LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 


LETTERS 


AND 


LETTER  WRITING 


As  Means  to  the  Study  and  Practice  of 
English  Composition 


BY 

CHARITY  DYE 

Teacher  of  English  in  Shortridge  High  School,  Indianapolis 
Author  of  "The  Story  Teller's  Art" 


'Sir,  all  letters,  methinks,  should  be  free  and  easy 
as  ones  discourse;  not  studied  as  an  oration,  nor 
made  up  of  hard  words  like  a  charm" 

DOROTHY  OSBOENB  TO 

SIB  WILLIAM  TEMPLE  IN  1653 


INDIANAPOLIS 

THE  BOBBS-MERRILL  COMPANY 
PUBLISHERS 


COPYRIGHT,  NINETEEN  HUNDRED  THREE 
THE  BOBBS-MERRILL  COMPANY 

DECEMBER 


PTfJJTD, 

•    :  a*»fl/ 


TO 

MISS  GEORGIA  ALEXANDER 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

PAGE 
PREFACE  1 

INTRODUCTORY:  THE  VALUE  OF  THE  PERSONAL  ELE- 
MENT IN  COMPOSITION  WRITING.  Composition  an 
Art-Subject;  The  Personal  Element  Fundamental; 
Doubtful  Uses  of  Personification;  The  Pathetic 
Fallacy  ;  Valid  Uses  of  Personification  ;  Personifi- 
cation Natural  to  the  Child;  Uses  of  Impersona- 
tion ;  The  Personal  Quality  of  Style ;  Aids  to  the 
Cultivation  of  the  Personal  Element;  Daily  Prac- 
tice; Material  Selected  on  the  Basis  of  Interest; 
Organization  of  Material;  The  Lesson  Assignment; 
Epistolary  Writing  and  the  Personal  Element;  Let- 
ters ;  The  School  Rich  in  Motives  for  Letters ;  The 
Fostering  of  Interest ;  Summary  3 


PART  I 

I.    A  GROUP  OF  LETTERS  INTERESTING  TO  YOUNGER 

PEOPLE  15 

II.    GROUPS  OF  LETTERS  INTERESTING  TO  OLDER  PEOPLE  34 

i.   Letters  of  Introduction  34 

ii.   Letters  of  Greeting  37 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

/»  iii.  Letters  of  Congratulation  39 

iv.   Invitational  Letters  41 

v.  Letter  of  Presentation  47 

vi.  Letters  of  Acknowledgment  48 

vii.  Letters  of  Recommendation  64 

viii.   Letters  of  Bequest  66 

ix.   Letters  of  Advice  69 

x.   Letters  of  Appreciation  75 

xi.   Letters  in  Connection  with  Literature  Study  94 

*  xii.  Letters  of  Sympathy  98 

xiii.  Letters  of  Farewell  100 

xiv.   Special  Letters  for  Arbor  Day  102 

xv.   From  the  Journal  of  Rev.  William  Emerson  112 

III.     ANNOTATED  LIST  OF  LETTERS,  JOURNALS  AND 

AUTOBIOGRAPHIES  115 


PART  II 
PREFATORY  NOTE  136 

CHAPTER  I.    LETTER  WRITING  IN  CONNECTION  WITH 

NATURE  STUDY  137 

i.   Autumn  137 

ii.   Winter  145 

iii.   Spring  151 

CHAPTER  II.    LETTERS  CHARACTERIZED  BY  THE  USE  OF 

DIFFERENT  DISCOURSE  FORMS  160 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

PAGE 
i.   Letters  in  Which  the  Use  of  the  Narrative  is 

Prominent  160 

ii.   Letters  Characterized  by  Their  Descriptive 

Quality  163 

iii.  Letters  Explanatory  in  Character  167 

iv.  Letters  Employing  Discussion  168 

v.   Letters  in  Which  Variety  of    Expression    is 

Secured  with  Reference  to  the  Same  Subject  174 


CHAPTER  III.    LETTERS  DEALING  WITH  SOCIAL  RELA- 
TIONS 181 

i.   Invitational  Letters  181 

ii.  Letters  of  Acknowledgment  and  Sympathy  184 

iii.  Letters  of  Appreciation  187 

iv.  Letters  Showing  Interest  in  Public  Affairs  191 

v.  Letters  of  Business  196 


CHAPTER  IV.    LETTERS  AND  JOURNALS  IN  CONNECTION 

WITH  HISTORY,  READING  AND  LITERATURE  198 

i.   In  Connection  With  History  and  Reading  198 

ii.   In  Connection  With  Reading  and  the  Study  of 

Literature  206 


t  c 


Letters  .  .  .  such  as  are  written  .from  wise  men,  are, 
of  all  the  words  of  man,  in  my  judgment,  the  best" 

BACON 


To  my  .friend  I  write  a  letter;  from  him  I  receive  a 
letter  .  .  .  a  spiritual  gift  worthy  of  him  to  give  and 
me  to  receive ' '  EMERSON 


PREFACE 

•< 

This  book  has  been  prepared  in  the  belief  that 
there  is  a  place  for  the  emphasis  of  heretofore  un- 
developed possibilities  in  composition  writing,  and 
that  contributions  yet  to  be  made  to  the  teaching 
of  English  will  consist  of  chapters  on  single  topics 
thoroughly  treated,  rather  than  of  books  covering 
the  whole  subject  and  containing  a  re-statement  of 
what  has  already  been  so  well  and  so  satisfactorily 
said. 

The  specimen  letters  in  Part  I  commend  them- 
selves by  their  own  value;  many  of  them  have  not 
before  been  given  to  the  general  public ;  some  of  them 
are  old  and  very  well  known ;  all  of  them  are  precious. 

The  annotated  list  of  letters  at  the  end  of  this  part 
calls  attention  to  many  letters  not  given  in  the  text. 

The  work  in  Part  II  aims  to  show  what  practical 
use  can  be  made  of  the  letters  in  Part  I,  as  models 
for  composition  through  letter-writing,  and  to  illus- 
trate the  adequacy  of  the  epistolary  forms  for  secur- 
ing ease  and  fluency  in  written  expression.  It 
further  aims  to  show  that  the  average  school  situa- 
tion through  its  studies,  through  the  experiences  of 
its  student  life,  and  through  the  larger  social  life 
surrounding  it,  is  rich  in  genuine  motives  for  letters. 

1 


LETTEES  AND  LETTEE  WEITING 

Grateful  acknowledgments  are  hereby  made  to  the 
publishers  who  have  so  kindly  granted  permission 
for  the  use  of  copyrighted  letters;  to  those  friends 
who  have  given  the  use  of  letters  heretofore  unpub- 
lished ;  and  to  other  friends  who  have  written  letters 
by  request  for  this  volume.  Especial  indebtedness 
is  acknowledged  to  Professor  Fred  N.  Scott  of  the 
University  of  Michigan.,  to  Professor  E.  H.  Lewis 
of  Lewis  Institute,  Chicago,  to  Miss  Frances  Perry 
of  Wellesley  College  and  to  Miss  Anna  M.  Locke  of 
Shortridge  High  School,  Indianapolis,  for  advice  and 
assistance  in  the  preparation  of  this  book. 

CHARITY  DYE. 

Indianapolis,  November,  1903. 


Utfiv£     :>!TV 


INTRODUCTORY 

~» 

THE  VALUE  OF  THE  PERSONAL  ELEMENT  IN  COMPOSI- 
TION WRITING 

1.  Any  discussion  of  the  personal  element  in 
composition  writing  must  be  based  upon  the  assump- 
tion that  composition  is  an  art-subject,  that  it  grows  composition 
out  of  the  desire,  natural  or  acquired,  for  self-ex-  ™rt-subject 
pression ;  that  it  is  a  self-revealment  through  the  im- 
pulse to  give  forth,  in  the  terms  of  life,  the  varied 
experiences  that  have  become  one's  own.  If  this 
assumption  be  true,  the  student  feels  the  same 
pleasure  in  transferring  his  idea  to  his  composition 
paper  that  he  feels  in  transferring  his  mental  picture 
to  his  drawing  paper;  the  two  subjects  differing  es- 
sentially in  that  the  medium  of  expression  in  the 
first  is  words  and  in  the  second  lines. 

The  personal  element  understood  as  a  vital  atti-  The  Personal 
tude,  as  a  tendency  to  project  self  into  whatever  one 
does,  lies  at  the  bottom  of  human  nature.  It  is 
the  communication  of  his  interests  to  beings  like 
himself  that  gives  man  his  highest  joy  and  that 
marks  him  as  a  distinctly  social  being.  The  vast 
structure  of  society  is  the  achievement  of  the  ages, 
and  for  this  all  other  results  of  human  effort  are 
made  subservient.  The  cave-dweller  had  no  society 

3 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

as  we  understand  it.  "The  hermit,"  says  Lowell, 
"has  no  news,"  and  Emerson  has  relegated  the  telling 
of  news  to  the  poet,  the  man  who  utters  the  word  of 
God.  The  personal  element  in  writing  has  many 
variations;  but  it  can  be  classed  in  a  general  way 
under  personification,  impersonation,  and  that  elusive 
element  known  as  the  personal  quality  of  style. 

2.  Personification  is  one  of  the  simplest  means  of 
expressing  the  personal  attitude,  and  it  is  now  used 
to  such  an  extent  in  composition  that  serious-minded 
educators  have  their  doubts  as  to  its  value,  and  fear 
the  dangers  that  may  arise  from  an  overdoing  at 
Doubtful  this  point.  One  who  is  an  authority  in  matters  of 
Personified-  education  and  philosophy  feels  that  the  putting  of 
science  work  in  an  "ultra  personal  and  dramatic  form 
causes  children  to  lose  the  scientific  or  truth  value 
of  the  materials  used,  and  having  everything  system- 
atically translated  into  a  form  that  soon  becomes  con- 
ventional, hardens  the  child  to  the  actual  poetry  of 
living  things." 

This  note  of  warning  is  certainly  worthy  of  serious 
thought,  and  the  employment  of  personification  in 
nature  work  may  already  be  pressed  beyond  the  nor- 
mal limit.  Mr.  Ruskin  also  has  much  to  say  upon 
a  healthy  use  of  figurative  expression,  which  of  course 
includes  personification,  in  his  essay,  "The  Pathetic 
Fallacy,"  and  his  protest  against  untrue  figures  of 
speech  has  done  much  to  correct  sentimental  tenden- 
The  Pathetic  cies  in  English  teaching.  He  even  classifies  poets 
with  reference  to  their  power  to  perceive  poetic  con- 
ceptions, into  those  who  see  truly  because  they  do  not 

4 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

feel;  those  who  see  untruly  because  they  feel,  and 
those  who  see  truly  in  spite  of  their  feelings.  We 
recognize  the  truth  of  this  classification  when  we  re- 
call the  Peter  Bells;  when  we  think  of  those  who  see 
everything  but  the  primrose  in  their  effusion  of  feel- 
ing at  its  presence,  and  those  who  see  it  as  the  simple 
flower  and  at  the  same  time  feel  the  mystery  that  it 
enfolds.  Dr.  Henry  van  Dyke  speaks  of  Tennyson's 
power  to  be  true  to  nature  in  his  imagery;  he  cites 
the  lines  in  Maud, 

"For  her  feet  have  touched  the  meadows 
And  left  the  daisies  rosy'' 

and  says  that  the  second  line  would  have  been  sheer 
nonsense  in  an  American  poet,  because  the  American 
daisy  is  all  yellow  and  white;  there  is  nothing  pink 
about  it ;  but  the  English  daisy  is  pink  on  the  under 
side  of  the  petals,  and  so  Maud  left  footprints  of  pink 
in  the  upturned  flowers  where  she  had  trodden.  Dr. 
van  Dyke  used  this  illustration  in  showing  the 
students  that  truth  to  nature  in  figurative  language 
is  most  pleasing.  Every  lover  of  wholesome,  vigorous 
English  heartily  sympathizes  with  the  effort  toward 
a  return  to  a  true  use  of  words. 

But  there  certainly  is,  on  the  other  hand,  a  justifi-  Valid  uses 
able  use  of  personification.  It  lies  in  the  nature  of 
mind  and  in  the  process  of  thinking  to  attribute  per- 
sonal qualities  to  things.  When  the  penetrative 
imagination  seizes  upon  an  object,  it  at  once  goes 
to  the  heart  of  it  and  discovers  new  analogies  be* 

5 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

tween  it  and  things ;  it  makes  figures  that  tally  with 
the  forces  of  nature  and  condenses  vistas  into  short 
space.  Darwin  wrote  many  pages  to  make  plain  the 
theory  that  was  announced  long  before  by  Emerson 
in  the  six  lines : 

"A  subtle  chain  of  countless  rings 
The  next  unto  the  farthest  brings; 
The  eye  reads  omens  where  it  goes, 
And  speaks  all  languages  the  rose; 
And,  striving  to  be  man,  tine  worm 
Mounts  through  all  the  spires  of  form." 

This  subtle  grasp  of  an  idea  usually  belongs  to 
poets  of  the  first  order,  poets  who  are  balanced  and 
sane  and  who  exercise  the  penetrative  imagination 
tempered  by  judgment,  right  feeling  and  proper  re- 
straint. To  train  students  into  true  perception 
mellowed  by  right  feeling  is  the  problem  of  the 
school. 
Personified-  Normal  children  have,  as  a  rule,  poetic  tem- 

tion  Natural  /  r. 

to  the  child  peraments.  Tennyson  said  at  the  age  of  six,  "I  hear 
a  voice  that's  speaking  in  the  wind,"  and  he  is  no 
exception  in  this  respect.  To  the  child  of  active 
imagination,  the  earth  is  peopled  with  creatures  of 
his  fancy,  and  pagan  that  he  is,  he  lives  again  the 
life  of  his  ancestors  when  man  saw  the  divine  in  the 
visible  forces  of  nature.  Personification  of  natural 
objects  brings  home  to  the  child  a  sense  of  the 
ongoing  processes  of  nature ;  by  it  his  poetic  feelings 
are  aroused  and  his  sympathies  enlisted.  He  catches 

6 


LETTEKS  AND  LETTEE  WETTING 

the  message  from  the  returning  bird  and  the  opening 
bud,  and  with  Wordsworth  verily  thinks  that  "every 
flower  enjoys  the  air  it  breathes/' 

3.  Impersonation  involves  personification  but  it 
includes  more;  it  calls  for  identity;  one  is,  for  the 
moment,  some  other-person  than  one's  self.  Brown- 
ing is  verily  the  villain,  the  priest,  and  the  innocent 
maiden  by  turns  in  The  Ring  and  the  Boole.  Vital 
poets  have  the  power  of  impersonation  in  a  marked 
degree.  The  novelists  bear  witness  to  this  fact  in 
their  writings  and  in  their  lives.  It  enabled  Charles 
Dickens,  as  David  Copperfield,  to  live  beyond  the 
four  walls  of  his  blacking-shop  and  imagine  himself 
a  British  lord.  Ernest  Thompson  S'eton's  animal 
stories  have  impersonation  for  their  chief  charm;  he 
is  the  Sandhill  Stag  and  Wahb.  There  is  no  ele- 
ment in  writing  that  does  more  to  cultivate  the 
imagination  than  the  power  to  impersonate,  to  put 
one's  self  in  another's  place  or  feel  another's  feelings ; 
it  forms  the  basis  for  true  character-study  and  for  the 
highest  literary  interpretation;  it  is  the  very  essence 
of  the  dramatic  sense  and  enables  one  to  be  the  per- 
son that  would  naturally  belong  in  a  given  situation. 
The  culture-epoch  theory  takes  advantage  of  this 
when  it  encourages  the  child  to  act  the  part  of  the 
Mound  Builder  now,  of  the  North  American  Indian 
later,  then  of  the  Eevolutionary  patriot,  and  so  on 
through  the  stages  that  link  the  present  with  the  past. 
The  employment  of  impersonation  vitalizes  the  study 
of  history,  of  geography,  and  of  reading.  The  stu- 
dent that  can  imagine  himself  John  Smith,  or  Eoger 

7 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

Williams,  or  Balboa  at  the  moment  of  his  discovery 
of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  is  learning  history  in  a  vital 
way,  is  receiving  training  in  creative  reading,  and  is 
being  prepared  for  written  expression.  The  employ- 
ment of  impersonation  in  reproduction  does  away  for 
ever  with  the  paraphrase  that  has  been  such  a  stum- 
bling-block in  English  teaching. 

The  Personal  4.  The  personal  quality  of  style  is  more  subtle 
style  and  more  charming  than  all  others;  it  differs  from 
personification  and  impersonation  in  being  a  quality 
rather  than  a  method  of  treatment  and  in  that  it 
belongs  under  every  form  of  writing.  It  is  felt 
rather  than  described,  and  without  it  words  are  as 
^empty  symbols  and  sentences  a  mere  aggregation  of 
words.  The  highest  expression  of  this  quality  pro- 
ceeds from  a  simple,  sincere  utterance  of  a  simple, 
sincere  soul.  It  is  not  marked  so  much  by  the 
amount  of  knowledge  displayed  as  by  the  writer's 
personal  touch,  imaging  his  very  self  in  his  produc- 
tion and  making  it  thereby  a  work  of  art. 
Aids  to  the  5.  In  order  to  cultivate  successfully  the  personal 

Cultivation 

of  the  elements  discussed  in  the  foregoing  pages,  one  should 

Personal  .  .  °  .          r.  ° 

Element  keep  constantly  in  mind  certain  points  common  to 
all  English  teaching.  First  of  these  is  the  necessity 
for  setting  aside  a  part  of  each  school  day  for  the 
student  to  write  something  which  he  wishes  to  say 
to  some  one  who  wishes  to  hear  it.  Since  writing 
for  a  short  period  every  school  day  throughout  the 
eight  years  of  the  graded  schools  has  never,  to  my 
knowledge,  been  tried,  the  gains  and  the  losses  aris- 
ing from  such  a  practice  can  not  now  be  compared 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WHITING 

with,  the  present  system  of  writing  one  day  in  five 
or  when  the  spirit  moves  the  teacher ;  but  it  has  been 
tried  long  enough  in  some  schools  to  show  results 
beyond  expectation.  The  most  vital  argument  for  Daily 
daily  practice  is  that  it  cultivates  the  writing  habit, 
that  is,  it  makes  written  expression  a  natural  and  an 
easy  thing;  it  coordinates  the  mind  with  the  muscles 
employed  in  writing  as  it  is  coordinated  with  those 
employed  in  speaking.  The  nervous  flow  from  the 
brain  finds  an  easy  channel  through  the  pen,  and  the 
impediments  that  beset  the  unpractised  hand  are 
overcome.  One  learns  to  write  by  writing,  and  the 
good  writer  is  called  the  "exact  man." 

Another  help  is  the  selection  of  material  on  the  Material 

m,       . .  Selected  on 

basis  of  interest,  when  the  occasion  is  ripe.    The  time  the  Basis  of 

.,  .    ,        Interest 

when  the  birds  are  on  the  wing  from  their  winter 
home,  when  the  cocoons  are  opening  or  the  buds  are 
bursting,  is  the  time  to  study  these  things.  When  the 
state  or  the  nation  sets  apart  a  day  in  honor  of  an 
event  or  a  hero,  the  school  should  fall  into  step  with 
the  larger  civic  life  of  the  community  and  share  the 
honor ;  when  favors  are  received,  no  better  motive  for 
a  note  of  thanks  can  be  found  than  the  acknowledg- 
ment of  such  favor ;  when  a  school  is  making  any  spe- 
cial study,  it  adds  to  the  interest  and  pleasure  of  the 
study  to  communicate  the  knowledge  gained  there- 
from to  some  one  kindly  disposed  to  the  school. 

The  basis  of  interest  should  also  govern  the  acquir- 
ing of  a  vocabulary  as  language  material.  The  mind 
seems  to  cling  to  the  word  that  suits  it,  and  if  words 
are  linked  with  experiences,  or  new  content  is  put  in- 

9 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

to  words  already  acquired,  one  gradually  comes  to  a 
sensing  of  language  that  marks  the  beginning  of 
literary  taste.  This  may  proceed  from  a  simple  start 
in  connection  with  an  exercise  of  the  senses  and  a  re- 
port of  the  results. 
organization  Not  only  should  material  be  selected  on  the  basis  of 

of  Material  J 

interest  to  the  student,  but  its  organization  should 
show  a  larger  recognition  of  the  individual  tastes  of 
the  various  students.  Composition  plans  should  not 
only  set  forth  the  logic  of  the  situation,  but  should 
help  the  student  to  see  dependence  and  sequence,  teach 
him  how  to  narrow  his  theme,  and  to  know  the  power 
of  selection  by  preferring,  in  a  short  space,  to  treat 
thoroughly  one  attribute  of  a  character  rather  than  to 
treat  superficially  the  whole  character;  to  give  the 
crucial  moment  in  a  story  with  point,  rather  than  to 
tell  the  whole  story  aimlessly ;  all  these  things  lead  in 
turn  to  a  sense  of  proportion,  or  the  relation  between 
an  important  point  and  the  time  and  space  allotted  to 
its  elaboration. 

Children  have  commenced  to  organize  their  ma- 
terial when  they  begin  to  select  from  and  arrange 
what  they  know  with  reference  to  a  given  sub- 
ject; and  when  plan-making  has  been  successfully 
carried  out,  the  composition  reading  will  illumi- 
nate the  subject  for  every  listener  and  reveal  as  many 
The  Lesson  plans  as  there  are  students.  One  of  the  most  ef- 

Assignment    „      ..  .    .  -11,1  n 

fective  means  of  organizing  material  by  the  teacher 
is  in  her  lesson  assignment,  which,  rightly  done,  takes 
much  time.  By  it  the  student  is  to  be  put  in  sym- 

10 


LETTEES  AKD  LETTEE  WETTING 

pathy  with  his  subject;  is  to  have  models  placed  be- 
fore him ;  is  to  have  the  directions  for  his  work  made 
so  definite  that  he  will  do  exactly  what  the  teacher 
has  in  mind  for  him  to  do,  because  nothing  else  will 
satisfy  the  requirements  given.  Lesson  assignment 
may  often,  with  profit,  take  the  place  of  technical 
instruction  by  the  placing  of  requirements  instead  of 
employing  technical  terms. 

6.  The  fostering  of  the  personal  elements  in  com-  The 
position  is  greatly  dependent  upon  suitable  condi-  interest3 
tions  for  writing ;  and  all  theory  and  all  the  materials 
at  hand  count  for  nothing  if  the  situation  does  not 
beget  in  the  mind  of  the  student  a  love  for  his  work 
and  a  belief  that  the  task  set  for  him  to  do  is  within 
his  comprehension  and  consistent  with  his  powers  of 
performance.  He  is  to  be  left  absolutely  free  with  his 
thought  expression,  and  neither  the  domination  of 
the  writing  master,  of  the  spelling  book,  of  the  gram- 
mar drill,  nor  the  pressure  that  he  must  write  so  much 
in  the  given  time,  should  have  a  place  in  the  com- 
position exercise.  These  points,  along  with  the  errors 
made  in  writing,  belong  to  drill  lessons  which  have  a 
place  set  apart  for  them  on  the  regular  program. 
Interest  in  his  theme  will  settle  these  questions  for 
the  student,  and  there  are  also  many  cooperative  in- 
fluences in  connection  with  the  school  life  itself  that 
stimulate  him  to  vital  work  in  composition  writ- 
ing; among  these  may  be  mentioned  the  exchange 
of  papers  between  members  of  the  same  class,  be- 
tween classes  in  the  same  building,  or  in  different 

11 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

buildings  or  cities.     There  is  also  at  present  a  prac- 
tice among  teachers  of  writing  with  their  pupils, 
which  gives  a  zest  to  the  lesson  that  nothing  else  does. 
Epistolary      7.    The  form  that  most  happily  employs  the  per- 

Writingand  r    /. 

the  Personal  sonal  element  in  composition  and  that  cultivates  ease, 

Element  r  . 

grace,  and  fluency  of  expression  is  epistolary  writing, 
under  which  may  be  placed  letters,  journals,  auto- 
biographies, imaginary  conversation,  and  table-talk. 
Epistolary  writing  is  used  here  to  express  one's  atti- 
tude toward  what  one  has  to  say ;  it  is  a  form  of  writ- 
ing that  grows  out  of  a  point  of  view,  or  a  manner  of 
thinking.  It  has  to  do  with  the  communication  of 
one's  thought  to  some  one  who  is  interested  in  that 
thought.  The  writer  may  assume  a  situation  or  im- 
personate a  character  and  write  out  of  himself  therein. 
The  most  frequent  sharing  of  ideas  in  epistolary  writ- 
ing is  to  be  found  in  letters. 

Letters  Letters  from  a  distinct  department  of  literature. 
The  list  of  all  the  noble  letter  writers  from  Cicero 
to  our  own  time  can  not  be  mentioned  at  one  sit- 
ting ;  but  in  such  a  list  are  letters  for  young  and  old, 
letters  to  suit  the  varying  tastes  of  all  classes  of 
people.  The  young  person  that  does  not  know  Phil- 
lips Brooks's  letters  of  travel  written  to  Gertie,  or  Vic- 
tor Hugo's  letters  to  his  children,  or  Hans  Andersen's 
letter  to  Marie,  will  hardly  make  up  for  what  he  has 
missed.  What  music  lover  could  afford  not  to  know 
the  letters  of  Sidney  Lanier,  giving  his  musical  im- 
pressions to  his  wife?  The  letters  of  Huxley  and 
Darwin  are  valued  by  every  scientist,  and  people  of 
literary  taste  can  scarcely  forego  the  fine  charm  and 

12 


LETTEES  AND  LETTEE  WETTING 

literary  flavor  of  the  letters  of  James  Eussell  Lowell, 
John  Lothrop  Motley,  Henry  D.  Thoreau,  George 
William  Curtis,  Celia  Thaxter,  Charles  Lamb,  Lord 
Tennyson,  Eobert  Louis  Stevenson,  and  of  Gilbert 
White's  journal,  making  Selborne  from  that  time 
famous  to  the  world.  The  very  nature  of  a  letter 
makes  it  a  means  of  securing  spontaneity.  Letters 
as  literature  have  for  their  aim  the  communication 
of  good  will,  the  increasing  of  sympathy  and  the 
finer  social  instincts;  the  sharing  of  knowledge  and 
the  promotion  of  intelligence  and  higher  aims. 
Surely  these  purposes  belong  to  composition  writing 
as  it  is  treated  in  this  book.  It  may  be  undeniably 
claimed,  however,  that  the  letters  cited  as  models 
were  not  written  as  exercises  in  composition ;  that  they 
grew  out  of  a  personal  occasion ;  that  writings  begin- 
ning with  "Dear  friend/'  followed  by  dreary  passages, 
and  ending  with  words  of  affection  do  not  consti- 
tute a  letter ;  and  also  that  letters  can  not  be  written 
in  cold  blood.  While  all  these  things  are  true,  it  can 
not  be  claimed  that  the  school  situation  is  incapable 
of  furnishing  to  the  student  warm-blooded  conditions 
for  epistolary  writing.  Genuine  motives  for  letters 
abound  wherever  life  is  lived  in  the  interest  of  work  Motives  for 

Letters 

and  social  contact.  The  school  life  calls  for  an  ex- 
change of  good  will  and  opinion  on  the  basis  of  mu- 
tual interest.  The  life  of  a  well-regulated  school  is 
healthy  and  has  a  distinctive  character  of  its  own; 
and  while  students  have  varied  purposes  and  em- 
ployments, they  meet  on  a  human  plane,  and  their 
studies  pursued  in  common  with  other  children  give 
13 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

them  a  basis  for  interchange  of  thought.  There  is 
also  a  mutual  bond  in  the  larger  civic  life  outside  the 
school  and  in  the  natural  phenomena  about  them, 
which  furnishes  to  students  abundant  stimulus  and 
proper  motives  for  all  forms  of  epistolary  writing. 
Summary  8.  It  is  not  then  too  much  to  claim  that  compo- 
sition should  be  looked  upon  as  an  art-subject;  that 
opportunity  for  daily  practice  in  writing  should  be 
given  to  the  teaching  of  it ;  that  materials  for  it  should 
be  selected  on  the  basis  of  interest  and  organized  to 
suit  the  individual  aptitudes  of  the  students ;  that  un- 
trammeled  conditions  should  be  furnished  the  student 
when  he  writes ;  and  that  the  school  situation  is  rich 
in  motives  for  epistolary  writings  which  foster  grace, 
ease  and  fluency  of  expression. 


14 


A  GEOUP  OF  LETTEES  INTEEESTING  TO 
YOUNGEE  PEOPLE 

VICTOR  HUGO  TO  HIS  LITTLE  DIDINE 

Good  morning,  my  pet ;  good  morning,  my  dear  lit- 
tle girlie.  I  promised  to  write  to  you.  You  see  I  am 
keeping  my  word. 

I  have  seen  the  sea,  some  fine  churches,  and  some 
pretty  country.  The  sea  is  large,  the  churches  are 
handsome,  the  country  is  pretty;  but  the  country  is 
not  as  pretty  as  you,  the  churches  are  not  as  hand- 
some as  your  Mamma,  and  the  sea  is  not  as  great  as 
my  love  for  you  all. 

My  pet,  I  have  often  given  half -pence  to  poor  chil- 
dren walking  barefooted  by  the  roadside,  for  your 
sakes,  my  little  ones.  I  love  you  all  dearly. 

A  few  hours  more  and  I  shall  be  kissing  you  on 
your  two  dear  little  cheeks,  and  also  my  big  Charlie 
and  my  little  Dede,  who  will  give  me  a  smile,  I  hope, 
and  my  beloved  Toto. 

Good-by  for  the  present,  my  Didine.     Keep  this 

letter.    When  you  are  grown  up,  I  shall  be  old,  you 

will  show  it  to  me,  we  shall  love  each  other  dearly; 

when  you  are  old,  you  will  show  it  to  your  children, 

15 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

and  they  will  love  you  as  much  as  I  do.     We  shall 
soon  meet.  YOUR  OWN  DADDY. 

By  permission  of  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co. 
From  Letters  of  Victor  Hugo. 


FROM   HANS   ANDERSEN 

Dear  Little  Marie: — 

Papa  and  Mamma  can  read  this  letter  to  you,  as 
you  can  not  read  it  yourself  yet;  but  only  wait  till 
this  time  four  years;  ah,  then  you'll  be  able  to  read 
everything,  I  know.  I  am  in  the  country  now  like 
you.  .  .  .  It  is  so  nice,  and  I  have  had  some 
strawberries — large,  red  strawberries,  with  cream. 
Have  you  had  any?  One  can  taste  them  right  down 
in  one's  stomach.  Yesterday  I  went  down  to  the  sea 
.  .  .  and  sat  on  a  rock  by  the  shore.  Presently  a 
large  white  bird  that  they  call  a  gull  came  flying 
along.  It  flew  right  toward  me,  so  that  I  fancied  it 
would  have  slapped  me  with  its  wings ;  but,  mercy  on 
us,  it  said,  "Mamaree !"  "Why,  what's  the  matter?"  I 
asked.  "Mama-ree!"  it  said  again,  and  then,  of 
course,  I  understood  that  "Ma-ma-ree"  meant  Marie. 
"Oh,"  said  I,  "then  you  bring  me  a  greeting  from 
Marie,  that's  what  it  is,  eh?"  "Ya-ya!  Ma-ma-ree, 
Ma-ma-ree,"  it  said.  It  couldn't  say  it  any  better  than 
that,  for  it  only  knew  the  gull  language,  and  that  is 
not  very  much  like  ours.  "Thanks  for  the  greeting," 
said  I,  and  off  flew  the  gull.  After  that,  as  I  was  walk- 
ing in  the  garden,  a  little  sparrow  came  flying  up.  "I 
suppose  you  now  have  flown  a  long  way?"  said  I. 
16 


1  ^  ~l 
LETTEES  AND  LETTEE  WEITING 

"Vit,  vit"  (far,  far),  it  said.  "Did  you  see  Marie,"  I 
asked.  "Tit,  tit,  tit"  (often,  often,  often),  it  said. 
"Then  give  my  greeting  to  Marie,  for  I  suppose  you 
are  going  back?"  I  said.  "Lit,  lit"  (a  little,  little), 
it  replied.  If  it  has  not  come  yet,  it  will  come  later 
on,  but  first  I'll  send  you  this  letter.  You  may  feed 
the  little  bird,  if  you  like,  but  you  must  not  squeeze 
it.  Now  greet  from  me  all  good  people,  all  sensible 
beasts  and  all  the  pretty  flowers  that  wither  before  I 
see  them.  Isn't  it  nice  to  be  in  the  country,  to  paddle 
in  the  water,  to  eat  lots  of  nice  things,  and  to  get  a 
letter  from  your  sweetheart.  H.  C.  ANDERSEN. 

By  permission  of  Dodd,  Mead  &  Co. 


SIDNEY    LANIER    TO    HIS    SECOND    SON,    SIDNEY,    AGED 
TEN  YEARS 

(Not  before  published.) 

435  N.  Calvert  St.,  Baltimore,  Md., 

November  12,  1880. 
My  dearest  Sidney: — 

What  a  long  time  has  passed  since  I  have  been  able 
to  write  you !  And,  mercy  upon  us,  what  an  age  it  is 
since  I  have  seen  my  dear  slender  tall  boy !  It  seems 
BO  long  that  I  am  wondering  if  you  have  had  time  to 

grow  as  tall  as  my  long-legged  friend,  Dr.  C ,  who 

has  to  stoop  in  order  to  walk  under  our  parlor  chan- 
deliers.    I  suppose  it  is  a  very  good  thing  to  have 
long  legs  when  one  is  riding  a  horse.    A  great  French 
17 


LETTEES  AND  LETTEE  WEITING 

writer,  named  Dumas,  tells  a  terribly  wild  story  of  his 
father,  who  was  a  great  horseman,  and  who — so  Du- 
mas says — could  break  a  horse's  ribs  merely  by  the 
pressure  of  his  legs.  Have  you  learned  to  jump  your 
horse  over  ditches  and  fences  yet  ? 

I  expected  to  send  you  a  text-book  in  Latin  several 
days  ago,  but  have  not  been  able  to  find  the  one  I 
wanted  you  to  study.  I  hope  to  get  it  soon,  and  I 
feel  sure  you  will  enjoy  learning  to  speak  a  little  of 
this  wonderful  old  language.  I  am  going  to  ask  you 
to  find  out  who  the  people  were  that  spoke  Latin,  and 
what  language  of  the  present  day  is  most  like  it,  so 
that  you  can  tell  me  when  you  come  home. 

It  gives  me  great  pain  to  tell  you  that  Eatsy  is 
dead.  He  suddenly  grew  sick,  some  weeks  ago,  and 
we  did  what  we  could  for  him.  But,  poor  fellow,  he 
couldn't  tell  us  where  he  felt  badly ;  and  we  were  not 
able  to  discover  any  symptoms  that  would  enable  us 
to  treat  his  disease.  We  have  missed  him  sadly,  and 
the  back-lots  around  us  seem  quite  desolate  without 
his  very  striking  figure. 

I  have  just  received  your  letter,  and  am  glad  to 
know  you  liked  the  St.  Nicholas.  The  next  one  will 
have  an  article  by  me  on  King  Arthur. 

Mother  and  I  are  indulging  in  many  a  fine  dream 
of  the  week  before  Christmas,  when  we  expect  to 
bring  you  and  our  other  two  men  home.  You  must 
caper  about  and  grow  as  fat  and  strong  as  possible  be- 
fore that  time,  so  that  we  may  be  able  to  hug  a  great 
deal  of  you  at  once  and  thus  make  up  for  the  time 
when  our  arms  have  been  empty. 

18 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

I  send  Charley  a  copy  of  the  last  Scribner's  to- 
day, and  write  him  by  the  same  mail.  I  wish  I  could 
tell  you  how  much  love  goes  with  it,  to  him,  and  to 
my  little  man  Hal,  and  to  you,  from 

Your  father,  S.  L. 

"Fatsy"  was  a  pet  chicken  of  little  Sidney's,  who  had 
grown  into  a  tall,  superb  Dominique  cock,  the  delight 
and  pride  of  that  intense,  tenacious  little  heart.  To 
"break  the  news"  consolingly  had  been  our  problem,  and 
was  really  the  raison  d'etre  of  this  letter. 

By  permission  of  Mrs.  Sidney  Lanier. 
Rights  reserved. 


JAMES  RUSSELL  LOWELL,  AT  THE  AGE  OF  NINE  YEARS, 
TO  HIS  BROTHER,  ROBERT   T.   S.  LOWELL 

November  2,  1828. 
My  dear  Brother: — 

I  am  now  going  to  tell  you  melancholy  news.  I 
have  got  the  ague  together  with  a  gumbile.  I  pre- 
sume you  know  that  September  has  got  a  lame  leg, 
but  he  grows  better  every  day  and  now  is  very  well 
but  still  limps  a  little.  We  have  a  new  scholar  from 
round  hill,  his  name  is  Hooper  and  we  expect  an- 
other named  Penn  who  I  believe  also  comes  from 
there.  The  boys  are  all  very  well  except  Nemaise, 
who  has  got  another  piece  of  glass  in  his  leg  and  is 
waiting  for  the  doctor  to  take  it  out,  and  Samuel 
Storrow  is  also  sick.  I  am  going  to  have  a  new  suit 
of  blue  broadcloth  clothes  to  wear  every  day  and  to 
play  in.  Mother  tells  me  that  I  may  have  any  sort 
19 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

of  buttons  I  choose.  I  have  not  done  anything  to 
the  hut  but  if  you  wish  I  will.  I  am  now  very 
happy;  but  I  should  be  more  so  if  you  were  there. 
I  hope  you  will  answer  my  letter  if  you  do  not  I 
shall  write  you  no  more  letters,  when  you  write  my 
letters  you  must  direct  them  all  to  me  and  not  write 
half  to  mother  as  you  generally  do.  Mother  has  given 
me  the  three  volumes  of  tales  of  a  grandfather, 
farewell,  Yours  truly, 

JAMES  R.  LOWELL. 

From  Letters  of  James  Russell  Lowell. 

Copyrighted,  1893,  by  Harper  &  Bros. 

HAWTHORNE  TO  HIS  LITTLE  DAUGHTER,  ROSE 

My  dear  Little  Rosebud: 

I  have  put  a  kiss  for  you  in  this  nice  clean  paper. 
I  shall  fold  it  up  carefully,  and  I  hope  it  will  not 
drop  out  before  it  gets  to  Lisbon.  If  you  can  not 
find  it,  you  ask  Mamma  to  look  for  it.  Perhaps  you 
will  find  it  on  her  lips.  Give  my  best  regards  to  your 
Uncle  John  and  Aunt  Sue,  and  to  all  your  kind 
friends,  not  forgetting  your  nurse. 

Your  affectionate  father,  N.  H. 

MR.  BURROUGHS  TO  A  LITTLE  SCHOOL-GIRL 

WEST  PARK,  N.  Y.,  October  21,  1901. 

My  dear  Little  Friend:— 

Your  letter  gave  me  real  amusement  and  pleasure. 
I  think  you  are  a  nice  little  girl.    I  wish  I  had  one 
20 


LETTERS  AND  LETTEE  WRITING 

like  you.  I  have  never  had  a  little  girl.  I  have  one 
boy,  and  he  has  just  graduated  from  Harvard  College. 
I  often  observe  the  insects,  but- 1  have  never  made 
a  study  of  them.  This  early  September  I  noted  a 
large  caterpillar,  probably  one  of  the  swallow-tailed 
butterflies,  that  bad-hanging  to  its  body  a  great  num- 
ber of  small  white  objects  that  looked  like  ant  eggs. 
Every  one  who  saw  them  thought  they  were  the  cater- 
pillar's eggs.  But  you  know  the  caterpillar  does  not 
lay  eggs.  These  small  white  objects  were  the  cocoons 
of  some  small  ichneumon  fly  that  had  laid  its  eggs  in 
the  flesh  of  the  caterpillar.  The  young  grubs  lived 
upon  the  fat  of  the  caterpillar  and  then  had  come 
out  and  spun  their  cocoons  all  over  its  body.  The 
caterpillar  was  very  feeble  and  soon  died  from  the 
effects  of  the  little  grubs.  You  might  have  great 
fun  in  studying  up  the  ichneumon  flies  and  all  that 
they  do.  Tell  the  other  boys  and  girls  in  your  room 
that  I  have  not  time  to  write  to  them  now.  Give  my 

love  to  Roy  M ,  Diedrich  N ,  Katie  H , 

Marie  H ,  and  to  your  teacher.     I  hope  I  can 

come  some  time  to  see  your  school. 

JOHN  BURROUGHS. 

THOMAS  JEFFERSON"  TO  THOMAS  JEFFERSON  SMITH, 
A  BABY  NAMESAKE 

This  letter  will,  to  you,  be  as  one  from  the  dead. 

The  writer  will  be  in  his  grave  before  you  can  weigh 

its  counsels.     Your  affectionate  and  excellent  father 

has  requested  that  I  would  address  to  you  something 

21 


LETTEES  AND  LETTEE  WETTING 

which  might  possibly  have  a  favorable  influence  on 
the  course  of  life  you  have  to  run;  and  I,  too,  as  a 
namesake,  feel  an  interest  in  that  course.  Few  words 
will  be  necessary  with  good  dispositions  on  your  part. 
Adore  God.  Eeverence  and  cherish  your  parents.  Love 
your  neighbor  as  yourself,  and  your  country  more 
than  yourself.  Be  just.  Be  true.  Murmur  not  at 
the  ways  of  Providence.  So  shall  the  life  into  which 
you  have  entered  be  the  portal  to  one  of  eternal  and 
ineffable  bliss,  and  if  to  the  dead  it  is  permitted  to 
care  for  the  things  of  this  world,  every  action  of  your 
life  will  be  under  my  regard.  Farewell. 
Monticello,  February  21, 1825. 

(Appended  to  this  letter,  he  gives  a  poem  and  a 
dialogue  of  Canons  for  observation  in  practical  life.) 

By  permission  of  Harper  &  Bros. 

From  The  Domestic  Life  of  Jefferson. 

JEFFERSON  TO  HIS  DAUGHTER 

(Extract) 
Dear  Patsy: — 

.     .     .     With  respect  to  your  time,  the  following 
is  what  I  approve : 

From  8  to  10,  practise  music. 

From  10  to  1,  dance  one  day  and  draw  the  next. 

From  1  to  2,  draw  on  the  day  you  dance,  and 
write  a  letter  next  day. 

From  3  to  4,  read  French. 

From  4  to  5,  exercise  yourself  in  music. 

From  5  till  bed  time,  read  English,  write,  etc. 
22 


LETTEES  AND  LETTEE  WRITING 

.  .  .  I  expect  you  to  write  me  by  every 
post.  .  .  .  Take  care  that  you  never  spell  a 
word  wrong.  Always,  before  you  write  a  word,  con- 
sider how  it  is  spelled,  and  if  you  do  not  remember 
it,  turn  to  the  dictionary. 

In  another  letter  he  writes:  I  omitted  to  advise 
you  about  dress.  Above  all  things,  and  at  all  times, 
let  your  clothes  be  neat,  whole  and  properly  put  on. 

By  permission  of  Harper  &  Bros. 

From  The  Domestic  Life  of  Jefferson. 

OLIVER  WENDELL  HOLMES  TO  MRS.   STANTON 

My  dear  Mrs.  Stanton: — 

I  wish  you  would  explain  to  your  little  nephew 
that  the  story  of  the  poor  fellow  who  almost  died 
laughing  was  a  kind  of  dream  of  mine,  and  not  a 
real  thing  that  happened,  any  more  than  that  an  old 
woman  "lived  in  a  shoe  and  had  so  many  children 
she  didn't  know  what  to  do,"  or  that  Jack  climbed 
the  beanstalk  and  found  the  giant  who  lived  at  the 
top  of  it.  You  can  explain  to  him  what  is  meant  by 
imagination,  and  thus  turn  my  youthful  rhymes  into 
a  text  for  a  discourse  worthy  of  the  Concord  School 
of  Philosophy.  I  have  not  my  poems  by  me  here, 
but  I  remember  The  Height  of  the  Ridiculous  ended 
with  this  verse : 

Ten  days  and  nights,  with  sleepless  eye, 

I  watched  that  wretched  man, 
And  since,  I  never  dare  to  write 

As  funny  as  I  can. 
23 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

But  tell  your  nephew  he  mustn't  cry  about  it  any 
more  than  because  geese  go  barefoot  and  bald  eagles 
have  no  nightcaps.  The  verses  are  in  all  the  editions 
of  my  poems. 

Believe  me,  dear  Mrs.  Stanton, 

Very  truly  and  respectfully  yours, 

OLIVER  WENDELL  HOLMES. 

LYDIA  MARIA  CHILD  TO  A  CHILD 

NORTHAMPTON,  August  16,  1840. 
Dearest  Nony: — 

Now  I  will  write  to  you.  I  have  no  kitten  to  purr 
aloud ;  and  my  great  black  cat  is  not  sufficiently  well- 
behaved  to  deserve  a  written  description.  But  my 
swallows  still  keep  about  the  house.  Almost  every 
evening  one  or  two  of  them  come  in  at  dark  in  search 
of  flies ;  and  they  go  circling  around  my  head,  so  that 
I  sometimes  feel  their  wings  fan  my  face.  Once  in 
a  great  while  they  come  in  now  to  look  at  the  old 
nest,  and  squat  down  in  it  for  a  minute  or  two ;  just 
as  children  love  to  go  back  to  the  old  homestead  to 
see  the  place  where  they  were  born.  But  the  pleas- 
antest  sight  of  all  was  when  the  little  ones  were  learn- 
ing to  fly.  Such  a  twittering  and  bustling!  And 
when  the  baby  birds,  in  spite  of  the  mother's  unwea- 
ried efforts,  still  continued  too  timid  to  drop  down 
from  the  edge  of  the  nest,  she  brought  in  eight  or 
ten  of  her  neighbor  swallows  to  instruct  and  encour- 
age them.  She  did  this  three  times  in  succession. 
The  woodshed  seemed  full  of  birds,  for  a  few  min- 

24 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

utes  at  a  time,  flying  and  perching,  and  clinging  to 
the  beams,  in  all  manner  of  pretty  attitudes.  I  don't 
know  but  you  grow  tired  hearing  about  my  birds; 
but  it  seems  as  if  I  could  watch  them  for  ever.  Every 
day  I  fear  it  is  the  last  time  I  shall  see  them ;  for  they 
will  soon  go  away  to-the  South  to  find  a  warmer  home 
for  winter.  . 

By  permission  of  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co. 
From  Letters  of  Lydia  Maria,  Child. 


SIR  THOMAS  MORE  TO  HIS  CHILDREN 

.  .  .  The  merchant  of  Bristow  brought  unto 
me  your  letters,  the  next  day  after  he  had  received 
them  of  you;  with  the  which  I  was  exceedingly  de- 
lighted. For  there  can  come  nothing,  yea,  though 
it  were  never  so  rude,  never  so  meanly  published, 
from  this  your  shop,  but  it  procureth  me  more  de- 
light than  any  others'  works  be  they  ever  so  eloquent : 
your  writing  doth  so  stir  up  my  affection  towards 
you.  But,  excluding  this,  your  letters  may  also  very 
well  please  me  for  their  own  worth,  being  full  of  fine 
wit  and  of  a  pure  Latin  phrase:  therefore  none  of 
them  all  but  joyed  me  exceedingly.  Yet,  to  tell  you 
ingenuously  what  I  think,  my  son  John's  letter 
pleased  me  best ;  both  because  it  was  longer  than  the 
other,  as  also  for  that  he  seemeth  to  have  taken  more 
pains  than  the  rest.  For  he  not  only  painteth  out 
the  matter  decently  and  speaketh  elegantly,  but  he 
playeth  also  pleasantly  with  me  and  returneth  my 
jests  upon  me  again,  very  wittily.  Hereafter  I  ex- 
25 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

pect  day  letters  from  every  one  of  you :  neither  will 
it  be  amiss,  if  you  first  indite  it  in  English ;  for  then 
it  may  more  easily  be  translated  into  Latin,  whilst 
the  mind,  free  from  inventing,  is  attentive  to  find 
apt  and  eloquent  words.  ...  I  enjoin  you,  by 
all  means,  that  you  diligently  examine  what  you  have 
written  before  you  write  it  over  fair  again ;  first  con- 
sidering attentively  the  whole  sentence,  and  after, 
examine  every  part  thereof.  ...  By  this  your 
diligence  you  will  procure,  that  those,  your  trifles, 
will  seem  serious  matters.  For,  as  nothing  is  so 
pleasing  but  may  be  made  unsavory  by  prating  gar- 
rulity, so  nothing  is  by  nature  so  unpleasant,  that  by 
industry  may  not  be  made  full  of  grace  and  pleasant- 
ness. Farewell,  my  sweetest  children. 

CHARLES    KINGSLEY    TO   HIS    LITTLE   DAUGHTER,   ROSE 

My  dear  Miss  Rose : — 

I  am  writing  in  such  a  curious  place — a  mill,  and 
such  a  funny  little  room  in  it,  full  of  stuffed  birds. 
And  there  is  a  flamingo,  such  a  funny  bird,  with  long 
legs  and  a  long  neck,  as  big  as  Miss  Rose.  And  now 
I  will  tell  you  about  the  stork.  He  is  called  Peter, 
and  here  is  a  picture  of  him.  See  what  long  legs  he 
has,  and  a  white  body  and  black  wings,  and  he 
catches  all  the  frogs  and  snails,  and  eats  them,  and 
when  he  is  cross,  he  opens  his  long  bill  and  makes 
such  a  horrible  clattering  like  a  rattle.  And  he 
comes  to  the  window  at  tea  time  to  eat  bread  and 
butter,  and  he  is  so  greedy,  and  he  gobbled  down  a 

26 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

great  pinch  of  snuff  from  Daddy's  box,  and  he  was 
so  sick,  and  we  all  laughed  at  him  for  being  so  foolish 
and  greedy.  .  .  .  And  do  you  know,  when  Mr. 
Thurwall  saw  me  drawing  the  stork,  he  gave  me  a 
real  live  stork  of  my  own  to  bring  home  to  Miss 
Rose,  and  we  will  Jfut  him  in  the  kitchen  garden  to 
run  about — what  fun!  And  to-morrow  Daddy  is 
going  to  see  the  beautiful  pictures  at  Fitzwilliam 
Museum,  and  the  next  day  he  is  going  to  fish  at 
Shelford,  and  the  next  day,  perhaps,  he  is  coming 
home  to  his  darlings  at  Eversley  Rectory,  for  he  does 
not  know  what  to  do  without  them. 

.  .  .  How  happy  Miss  Rose  must  be  with  her 
dear  mother.  She  must  say,  "Thank  God,  for  giving 
me  such  a  darling  mother."  Kiss  her  for  me  and 
Maurice,  and  now  good-bye,  and  I  will  bring  home 
the  stork.  Your  own  DADDY. 

By  permission  of  Charles  Scribner's  Sons. 
JOHN  RUSKIN  TO  SUSIE 

(Extract) 
PASS  OF  BOCCHETTA,  1st  October. 

All  that  is  wonderful  and  lovely  in  the  Alps  may 
be  seen  without  the  slightest  danger,  in  general,  and 
it  is  especially  good  for  little  girls  of  eleven,  who 
can't  climb,  to  know  this — all  the  best  views  of  hills 
are  at  the  bottom  of  them.  I  know  one  or  two  places, 
indeed,  where  there  is  a  grand  peeping  over  preci- 
27 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

pices,  one  or  two  where  the  mountain  seclusion  and 
strength  are  worth  climbing  to  see.  But  all  the 
entirely  beautiful  things  I  could  show  you,  Susie; 
only  for  the  very  highest  sublime  of  them  some- 
times asking  you  to  endure  half  an  hour  of  chaise 
a  porteur,  but  mostly  from  a  post-chaise  or  smoothest 
of  turnpike  roads. 

But,  Susie,  do  you  know,  I'm  greatly  horrified  at 
the  pen-wipers  of  peacock's  feathers!  I  always  use 
my  left-hand  coat-tail,  indeed,  and  if  only  I  were  a 
peacock  and  a  pet  of  yours,  how  you'd  scold  me ! 

Sun  just  coming  out  over  sea  (at  Sestri),  which  is 
sighing  in  toward  the  window,  within  your  drive, 
round  before  the  door's  breadth  of  it,  seen  between 
two  masses  of  acacia  copse  and  two  orange  trees  at 
the  side  of  the  inn  courtyard. 

COVENTRY  PATMORE  TO  HIS  DAUGHTER 

14  Percy  Street,  February  1,  1864. 

My  dear  little  girl: — 

I  have  treated  your  snowdrops  with  the  greatest 
care,  and  I  hope  they  will  recover  from  the  effects 
of  the  fearful  stamping  which  they  have  received  in 
the  post.  - 

Spring  must  be  forwarder  in  Yorkshire  than  here. 
I  suppose  the  warm  smoke  of  Leeds  protects  the 
earth  from  the  frost,  which,  in  our  clear  London  air, 
bids  the  flowers  sleep  for  a  month  or  two  longer.  I 
always  wonder  how  the  snowdrops  know  what  time 

28 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

it  is  to  get  up ;  for  they  do  not  mind  the  frost.  All 
they  insist  upon  is  that  it  shall  be  the  end  of  January 
or  the  beginning  of  February.  They  are  by  much 
the  most  cunning  little  flowers  I  know.  .  .  . 

Your  loving  father, 
_  COVENTRY  PATMORE. 

TO  THOMAS  CARLYLE,  FROM  NERO,  THE  DOG 

(Written  by  Jane  Welsh  Carlyle  in  Mr.  Carlyle's 
absence) 

5  CHEYNE  Row,  CHELSEA, 

Tuesday,  January  20,  1859. 
Dear  Master: — 

I  take  the  liberty  to  write  to  you  myself  (my  mis- 
tress being  out  of  the  way  of  writing  to  you  she  says) 
that  you  may  know  that  Columbine  [the  cat]  and  I 
are  quite  well,  and  play  about,  as  usual.  There  was 
no  dinner  yesterday,  to  speak  of ;  I  had  for  my  share 
only  a  piece  of  biscuit  that  might  have  been  round  the 
world ;  and  if  Columbine  got  anything  at  all,  I  didn't 
see  it.  I  made  a  grab  at  one  of  two  "small  beings" 
on  my  mistress'  plate;  she  called  them  heralds  of 
morn;  but  my  mistress  said,  "Don't  you  wish  you 
may  get  it?"  and  boxed  my  ears.  I  wasn't  taken  to 
walk  on  account  of  its  being  wet.  And  nobody  came, 
but  a  man  for  "burial  rate";  and  my  mistress  gave 
him  a  rowing,  because  she  wasn't  going  to  be  buried 
here  at  all.  Columbine  and  I  don't  mind  where  we 
are  buried.  This  is  a  fine  day  for  a  run;  and  I  hope 
29  " 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

I  may  be  taken  to  see  Mohe  and  Dumm.  They  are 
both  nice,  well-bred  dogs,  and  always  so  glad  to  see 
me,  and  the  parrot  is  great  fun  when  I  spring  at  her ; 
and  Mrs.  Lindsay  has  always  such  lots  of  bones,  and 
doesn't  mind  Mohe  and  Dumm  and  me  eating  them 
on  the  carpet.  I  like  Mrs.  Lindsay  very  much. 

Your  obedient  little  dog,  NERO. 

ROBERT  GOULD  SHAW  TO  HIS  MOTHER 

(Written  during  his  Freshman  year  in  Harvard  Col- 
lege, describing  a  game  of  football) 

CAMBRIDGE,  September  5,  1856. 

Last  Monday  we  had  our  six  annual  football 
games;  Freshman  kicking  against  Sophomores.  In 
the  last  three  games,  the  Juniors  help  the  Freshmen, 
and  the  Seniors  help  the  Sophomores.  We  beat  the 
third  game,  alone,  a  thing  which  has  happened  only 
three  times  since  the  University  was  founded.  The 
Sophomores  generally  beat  all  six  games,  because  they 
know  the  ground,  and  know  each  other.  As  I  think 
a  description  of  the  whole  affair  would  amuse  you,  I 
will  give  it  to  you. 

At  half  past  six  we  went  to  the  "Delta,"  and  in  a 
few  minutes  the  whole  Sophomore  class  streamed  into 
the  field  at  one  end,  and  about  as  large  a  class  of 
Freshmen  into  the  other,  and  stood  opposite  each 
other  about  a  hundred  yards  apart,  like  two  hostile 
armies.  There  we  stood  cheering  and  getting  up  our 

30 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

courage  until  the  ball  was  brought.  It  was  received 
with  great  cheering  and  hurrahing,  and  handed  over 
to  the  Sophomores,  who  have  the  first  kick  by  rights. 
After  they  had  kicked  once,  they  waited  till  our 
champion,  Crowninshield,  had  one  kick,  and  then 
rushed  in. 

They  knew  that  we  were  a  large  class  and  had  a 
good  many  big  fellows,  so  they  determined  to  frighten 
us  by  hard  fighting;  and  if  anything  was  calculated 
to  frighten  fellows  not  used  to  it,  it  was  the  way  in 
which  they  came  upon  us.  They  rushed  down  in  a 
body,  and,  hardly  looking  for  the  ball,  the  greater 
part  of  them  turned  their  attention  to  knocking  down 
as  many  as  they  could,  and  kicked  the  ball  when  they 
happened  to  come  across  it.  It  was  a  regular  battle, 
with  fifty  to  seventy  men  on  each  side.  It  resembled 
more  my  idea  of  the  hand-to-hand  fighting  in  the 
battles  of  the  ancients,  than  anything  else.  After  the 
first  game,  few  had  their  own  hats  on,  few  a  whole 
shirt.  In  the  beginning,  I  rushed  into  the  middle 
with  the  crowd,  but  after  that  I  kept  among  fellows 
of  my  own  size  on  the  outskirts.  My  experience  in 
the  middle  was  this:  before  I  had  been  there  more 
than  a  second,  I  had  got  three  fearful  raps  on  the 
head  and  was  knocked  down,  and  they  ran  all  over 
me  after  the  ball,  which  had  been  kicked  to  another 
part  of  the  field.  Then  I  picked  myself  up,  as  did 
a  great  many  other  fellows  lying  about  me,  and 
looked  for  my  hat  among  about  twenty  others  and  a 
good  many  rags.  I  found  it  sometime  afterwards. 

.  .  .  That  was  Monday,  and  to-day  is  Friday, 
31 


LETTEKS  AND  LETTEE  WRITING 

but  my  head  is  not  entirely  well  yet.  I  got  many 
blows  which  I  didn't  feel  at  all  till  next  day.  A 
good  many  of  our  fellows  were  more  badly  hurt,  be- 
cause they  had  pluck  enough  to  go  into  the  thick  of 
it  each  time;  once  was  enough  for  me.  It  was  fine 
to  see  how  little  some  of  them  cared  for  the  blows 
they  got.  After  Juniors  and  Seniors  came  in  there 
must  have  been  two  hundred  on  the  ground.  Of  the 
last  three  games  we  beat  one,  and  one  was  voted  a 
drawn  game.  This  is  a  much  more  important  thing 
than  one  would  think,  because  it  is  an  established 
custom;  and  our  having  beaten  is  a  great  glory,  and 
gives  other  classes  a  much  higher  opinion  of  us  than 
they  would  otherwise  have.  They  talked  about  it 
quite  amicably  the  next  day.  Several  of  the  Sophs 
and  Seniors,  who  were  opposed  to  us,  came  over  to 
our  side  the  same  evening,  and  congratulated  us  upon 
having  beaten  them,  because  it  was  such  an  unusual 
thing. 

ROBERT  LOUIS  STEVENSON  TO  THOMAS  ARCHER 

TANTIRA,  ISLAND  OF  TAHITI, 

November,  1888. 
Dear  Tomarcher: — 

.  .  .  This  is  a  much  better  place  for  children 
than  any  I  have  hitherto  seen  in  these  seas.  The 
girls  (and  sometimes  the  boys)  play  a  very  elaborate 
kind  of  hopscotch.  The  boys  play  horses  exactly  as 
we  do  in  Europe;  and  have  very  good  fun  on  stilts, 
trying  to  knock  each  other  down,  in  which  they  do 

32 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

not  succeed.  The  children  of  all  ages  go  to  church 
and  are  allowed  to  do  what  they  please  running  about 
the  aisles,  rolling  balls,  stealing  mamma's  bonnet 
and  publicly  sitting  on  it,  and  at  last  going  to  sleep 
in  the  middle  of  the  floor.  I  forgot  to  say  that  the 
whips  to  play  horses  .and  balls  .  .  .  grow  ready- 
made  on  trees;  which  is  rough  on  toy  shops.  The 
whips  are  so  good  that  I  wanted  to  play  horse  myself ; 
but  no  such  luck  .  .  .  But  what  I  really  wanted 
to  tell  you  was  this:  besides  the  tree-top  toys  (Hush- 
a-by,  toy-shop,  on  the  tree-top !)  I  have  seen  some  real 
made  toys,  the  first  hitherto  observed  in  the  south 
seas.  ...  I  have  the  honor  to  be  Tomarcher's 
valued  correspondent,  TERIITERA,  which  he  has 
previously  known  as  ROBERT  Louis  STEVENSON. 

By  permission  of  Charles  Scribner's  Sons. 

From  The  Letters  of  Robert  Louis  Stevenson. 


33 


II 


GROUPS  OF  LETTERS  INTERESTING  TO 
OLDER  PERSONS 


/.  LETTERS  OF  INTRODUCTION 

GEORGE    WASHINGTON    TO    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN, 
AMERICAN  MINISTER  IN  FRANCE. 

PHILADELPHIA,  28  December,  1778. 
Sir:— 

The  Marquis  de  Lafayette,  having  served  with  dis- 
tinction as  major-general  in  the  army  of  the  United 
States  for  two  campaigns,  has  been  determined,  by 
the  prospects  of  a  European  war,  to  return  to  his 
native  country.  It  is  with  pleasure,  that  I  embrace 
the  opportunity  of  introducing  to  your  acquaintance 
a  gentleman,  whose  merits  can  not  have  left  him  un- 
known to  you  by  reputation.  The  generous  motives 
which  first  induced  him  to  cross  the  Atlantic;  the 
tribute  which  he  paid  to  gallantry  at  Brandywine; 
his  success  in  Jersey  before  he  had  recovered  from 
his  wounds,  in  an  affair  where  he  commanded  militia 
against  British  grenadiers;  the  brilliant  retreat,  by 
which  he  eluded  a  combined  manceuver  of  the  whole 
British  force  in  the  last  campaign ;  his  services  in  the 
enterprise  against  Rhode  Island;  are  such  proofs  of 

34 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

his  zeal,  military  ardor,  and  talents,  as  have  endeared 
him  to  America,  and  must  greatly  recommend  him 
to  his  Prince. 

Coming  with  so  many  titles  to  claim  your  esteem, 
it  were  needless  for  any  other  purpose,  than  to  in- 
dulge my  own  feelings,  to  add,  that  I  have  a  very 
particular  friendship  for  him;  and  that  whatever 
services  you  have  it  in  your  power  to  render  him  will 
confer  an  obligation  on  one  who  has  the  honor  to  be, 
with  the  greatest  esteem,  regard,  and  respect,  Sir, 
etc. 

RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON  TO  COVENTRY  PATMORE 

CONCORD,  October  5,  1858. 
My  dear  Sir: — 

I  have  once  (and)  again  strained  my  slender  claim 
to  your  acquaintance,  for  the  benefit  of  my  friends, 
when  they  were  lovers  of  your  genius,  and  am  now 
emboldened  by  my  regards  for  the  traveler  to  do  the 
like  again. 

My  friend  Miss  Elizabeth  Hoar  (who  should  have 
been  these  many  years  my  sister),  desires  to  see  you, 
as  few  have  read  your  poems  better,  and  I  could  not 
send  you  easily  a  more  discerning  and  more  culti- 
vated person.  Miss  Hoar  travels  in  Europe  for  a  year 
with  her  brother  and  her  friend  Miss  Pritchard,  and, 
though  they  stay  in  London  but  a  short  time,  mean, 
of  course,  to  see  the  museum ;  and  I  must  rely  on  your 
kindness  to  point  out  to  them  precisely  those  things 
which  you  value  most.  Miss  Hoar  will, give  you  at 
35 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

least  the  satisfaction  of  a  clear  intelligence  and  a 
correct  taste. 

I  confide  that  you  will  find  your  acquaintance  with 
my  friend  self -rewarding.    And  I  hope  you  will  im- 
part to  her  some  good  news  of  yourself  and  your 
literary  designs,  which  may  arrive  at  last  at  me. 
With  grateful  regards,  yours, 

R.  W.  EMERSON. 

JAMES  RUSSELL  LOWELL  TO  NATHANIEL  HAWTHORNE, 
INTRODUCING   W.    D.    HOWELLS 

CAMBRIDGE,  August  5,  1860. 
My  dear  Hawthorne  : 

I  have  no  masonic  claim  upon  you  except  com- 
munity of  tobacco,  and  the  young  man  who  brings 
this  does  not  smoke. 

But  he  wants  to  look  at  you,  which  will  do  you  no 
harm  and  him  a  great  deal  of  good. 

His  name  is  Howells,  and  he  is  a  fine  young  fel- 
low, and  has  written  several  poems  in  the  Atlantic, 
which  of  course  you  never  read,  because  you  don't 
do  such  things  yourself,  and  are  old  enough  to  know 
better.  ...  If  my  judgment  is  good  for  any- 
thing, this  youth  has  more  in  him  than  any  of  our 
younger  fellows  in  the  way  of  rhyme. 

Of  course  he  can't  hope  to  rival  the  Consule  Planco 
men.    Therefore  let  him  look  at  you  and  charge  it 
To  yours  always, 

J.  R.  LOWELL. 


36 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 
II.   LETTERS  OF  GREETING 

FROM  0.  W.  HOLMES 

296  Beacon  Street,  March  8,  1893. 
My  dear  Madam : — 

It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  send  my  best  regards 
to  you  and  your  pupils  and  my  best  wishes  for  you 
all. 

I  have  a  great  many  letters  to  dictate,  and  some, 
like  this  which  I  feel  that  I  must  write  with  my  own 
hand.  I  can  not  therefore  say  all  that  I  should  like  to, 
if  less  occupied.  Add  as  many  kind  expressions  from 
the  dictionary  as  this  sheet  will  hold,  and  I  will  be 
responsible  for  every  one  among  them. 
Very  truly  yours, 

OLIVER  WENDELL  HOLMES. 

FROM  JAMES  LANE  ALLEN 

To  the  Editors  of  The  Dawn: — 

In  response  to  your  kind  request  that  I  send  you  a 
greeting  for  a  number  of  The  Dawn,  I  have  ven- 
tured to  copy  for  you  from  one  of  my  own  stories  the 
description  of  a  school-house,  such  as  you  never  sat 
in  and  will  never  see : 

"Poor  old  school-house,  long  since  become  scat- 
tered ashes !  Poor  little  backwoods  academicians, 
driven  in  about  sunrise,  driven  out  toward  dusk ! 
Poor  little  tired  backs  with  nothing  to  lean  against ! 
37 


LETTERS  AND  LETTEE  WRITING 

Poor  little  bare  feet  that  could  never  reach  the  floor ! 
Poor  little  droop-headed  figures,  so  sleepy,  so  afraid 
to  fall  asleep !" 

With  the  hope  that  you  will  never  forget  what 
great  men  and  women  came  out  of  the  log  school- 
houses  of  your  country,  and  with  the  wish,  also,  that 
this  fact  may  help  you  to  realize  that  the  real  dwell- 
ing place  of  a  great  life  is  never  the  outer  building, 
but  always  the  noble  inner  temple  of  the  spirit,  I  am, 
Sincerely  yours, 

JAMES  LANE  ALLEN. 

Cincinnati,  April  16,  1893. 


BIRTHDAY  GREETINGS  FROM  MATTHEW  ARNOLD  TO  HIS 
MOTHER 

HAMPTON,  August  19,  1852. 
My  dearest  Mother: — 

Clough  has  been  with  me  for  the  last  few  days  in 
Wales;  he  is  likely  to  go  to  America  in  the  autumn 
to  try  his  fortune  there  as  tutor.  You  will  receive 
this,  my  dearest  mother,  on  the  morning  of  your 
birthday.  Accept  every  loving  and  grateful  wish 
from  a  son  to  whom  you  have  been  such  a  mother  as 
few  sons  have.  The  more  I  see  of  the  world,  the  more 
I  feel  thankful  for  the  bringing  up  we  had,  so  un- 
worldly, so  sound,  so  pure.  God  bless  you,  my  dear 
mother,  and  believe  me  your  truly  affectionate  child, 

M.  ARNOLD. 


38 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 


777.   LETTERS  OF  CONGRATULATION 


THOMAS   JEFFERSON    TO    GEORGE   WASHINGTON 


October  28,  1781. 
Sir:— 

I  hope  it  will  not  be  unacceptable  to  your  Excel- 
lency to  receive  the  congratulations  of  a  private  indi- 
vidual on  your  return  to  your  native  shore,  and,  above 
all  things,  on  the  success  which  has  attended  it. 
Great  as  this  has  been,  however,  it  can  scarcely  add  to 
the  affection  with  which  we  have  looked  up  to  you. 
And  if,  in  the  minds  of  any,  the  motives  of  gratitude 
to  our  good  allies  were  not  sufficiently  apparent,  the 
part  they  have  borne  in  this  action  must  amply  con- 
vince them. 

.  .  .  I  should  certainly  have  done  myself  the 
honor  of  paying  my  respects  to  you  personally,  but  I 
apprehend  that  these  visits,  which  are  meant  by  us 
as  marks  of  our  attachment  to  you,  must  interfere 
with  the  regulations  of  a  camp,  and  be  particularly 
inconvenient  to  one  whose  time  is  too  precious  to  be 
wasted  in  ceremony. 

I  beg  you  to  believe  me  among  the  sincerest  of 
those  who  subscribe  themselves  your  Excellency's 
most  obedient  and  most  humble  servant. 

TH.  JEFFERSON. 

By  permission  of  Harper  &  Bros. 

From  The  Domestic  Life  of  Jefferson,  by  Randolph. 


39 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 


GEORGE  WILLIAM  CURTIS  TO  JOHN  J.  PINKERTON 

NORTH  SHORE,  STATEN  ISLAND. 

2nd   October,   1863. 
My  dear  Pirikerton : — 

I  wish  you  joy  with  all  my  heart,  and  the  voice  of  a 
married  man  of  seven  years  ought  to  have  weight  in 
felicitation.  It  has  always  seemed  that  my  fancy 
was  fleet  enough  to  outrun  the  fact,  and  yet  I  have 
been  always  distanced.  As  a  lover  you  think  mar- 
riage is  a  very  paradise,  but  as  a  husband  you  will 
feel  that  it  is  the  beginning  of  life.  But  I  leave  the 
sermon  to  the  good  clergyman  who  will  breathe  upon 
you  the  heavenly  benediction  for  your  voyage.  I 
only  stand  on  the  shore  and  fling  after  you  my  well 
worn  marriage  slipper,  and  believe  all  that  you  know 
of  your  companion,  and  whistle  for  the  softest  and 
most  favorable  gales.  God  bless  you  and  yours.  Al- 
ways Your  friend, 

GEORGE  WILLIAM  CURTIS. 

By  permission  of  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co. 
From  Gary's  Life  of  O.  W.  Curtis. 


40 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 


IV.  INVITATIONAL  LETTERS 

JAMES   RUSSELL  LOWELL  TO  THOMAS  HUGHES, 
OF  ENGLAND 

ELMWOOD,  July  18, 1870. 
/  My  dear  Hughes: — 

I  hope  you  will  come  hither  as  early  as  you  can, 
for  it  will  be  vacation,  and  I  can  see  more  of  you. 
And  I  want  you  to  see  my  trees  with  the  leaves  on — 
especially  my  English  elms.  ...  I  hope  by  the 
middle  of  August  our  worst  heats  will  be  over,  for 
they  began  early  this  year. 

Already  I  have  an  invitation  for  you  from  a  friend 
of  mine  at  Newport  (our  great  watering-place), 
whom  I  would  like  you  to  know.  .  .  .  While  you 
are  here,  I  will  take  you  to  Concord  and  show  you 
such  Lions  as  we  have.  We  shall  be  delighted  to  see 
you  and  keep  you  as  long  as  you  can  stay.  .  .  . 
Good-by  and  God  bless  you  till  I  take  you  by  the 
hand.  Always  heartily  yours, 

J.  R.  LOWELL. 

From  Letters  of  James  Russell  Lowell. 

Copyrighted,  1893,  by  Harper  &  Bros. 

DAVID  MASSON  TO  OSCAR  C.  McCULLOCH 

58  GREAT  KING  STREET, 
EDINBURGH,  July  6,  1891. 
My  'dear  Sir: — 

Mrs.  Masson  and  my  daughter  are  away  at  Strath- 
peffer  at  present  so  that  I  am  by  myself  here,  and 
41 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

shall  be  still  by  myself  the  time  you  and  Mrs.  McCul- 
loch  expect  to  be  in  Edinburgh.  But,  if  you  will 
excuse  that  unfortunate  chance,  I  shall  be  glad  to  see 
you  any  afternoon  during  your  visit  when  it  may  be 
convenient  for  you  to  give  me  that  pleasure. 

Yours  very  truly, 
DAVID  MASSON. 


ROBERT  LOUIS  STEVENSON  TO  HENRY  JAMES 

SKERRYVORE,  BOURNEYMOUTH, 

October  28,  1885. 
My  dear  Henry  James: — 

At  last,  my  wife  being  at  a  concert,  and  a  story  be- 
ing done,  I  am  at  some  liberty  to  write  and  give  you 
of  my  views.  .  .  . 

And  now  to  the  main  point:  why  do  we  not  see 
you?  Do  not  fail  us.  Make  an  alarming  sacrifice 
and  let  us  see  "Henry  James's  Chair"  properly  occu- 
pied. I  never  sit  in  it  myself  (though  it  was  my 
grandfather's) ;  it  has  been  consecrated  to  guests  by 
your  approval,  and  now  stands  at  my  elbow  gaping. 
We  have  a  new  room,  too,  to  introduce  to  you — our 
last  baby,  the  drawing-room;  it  never  cries  and  has 
cut  its  teeth.  Likewise,  there  is  a  cat  now.  It 
promises  to  be  a  monster  of  laziness  and  self-suffi- 
ciency. .  .  .  Now,  my  dear  James,  come — come 
— come.  The  spirit  (that  is  me)  says,  come;  and  the 
bride  (and  that  is  my  wife)  says,  come ;  and  the  best 


42 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

thing  you  can  do  for  us  and  yourself  and  your  work 
is  to  get  up  and  do  so  right  away. 

Yours  affectionately, 

ROBERT  Louis  STEVENSON. 

By  permission  of  Charles  Scribner's  Sons. 

From  Letters  of  Robert  Louis  Stevenson. 


LONGFELLOW  TO  MRS.  JAMES  T.  FIELDS. 

(Acceptance.) 

April  25,  1871. 

We  accept,  Greene  and  myself,  your  kind  invitation 
to  dinner  on  Thursday,  and  will  present  ourselves  in 
proper  uniform  at  six  o'clock. 

Do  not  give  yourself  any  further  trouble  about  the 
notices  of  Greene's  book.  .  .  .  Already  I  notice 
something  like  peacock's  feathers  growing  upon  my 
friend,  and  have  to  spread  my  own  very  wide  to 
show  that  I  still  exist,  am  still  respectable,  though 
tarnished.  It  is  a  very  comical  sight  to  see  two 
authors  shut  up  in  one  room  together. 

However,  we  will  be  serious  on  Thursday. 

By  permission  of  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co. 
Prom  Life  of  Longfellow. 

HENRY  D.  THOREAU  TO  MR.  B. 

(Acceptance.) 

CONCORD,  January  21,  1854. 

Mr.  B :— 

My  coat  is  at  last  done,  and  my  mother  and  sister 
allow  that  I  am  50  far  in  a  condition  to  go  abroad.    I 
43 


LETTEKS  AND  LETTEB  WKITING 

feel  as  if  I  had  gone  abroad  the  moment  I  put  it  on. 
It  is,  as  usual,  a  production  strange  to  me,  the 
wearer,  .  .  .  and  the  maker  of  it  was  not  ac- 
quainted with  any  of  my  real  depressions  or  eleva- 
tions. ...  It  requires  a  not  quite  innocent  in- 
difference, not  to  say  insolence,  to  wear  it.  ... 
I  expect  the  time  when  a  man  .  .  .  will  get  his 
coat  as  perfectly  fitting  as  a  tree  its  bark.  ...  I 
think  to  come  and  see  you  next  week,  on  Monday,  if 
nothing  hinders.  ...  H.  D.  T. 

By  permission  of  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co. 
From  Letters  of  Thoreau. 


CHARLES  LAMB  TO  WORDSWORTH,  DECLINING  AN 
INVITATION  TO  VISIT  WORDSWORTH 

January  30,  1801. 

I  ought  before  this  to  have  replied  to  your  very 
kind  invitation  into  Cumberland.  With  you  and 
your  sister  I  could  gang  anywhere;  but  I  am  afraid 
whether  I  shall  ever  be  able  to  afford  so  desperate 
a  journey.  Separate  from  the  pleasure  of  your  com- 
pany, I  don't  care  much  if  I  never  see  a  mountain 
in  my  life.  I  have  passed  all  my  days  in  London, 
until  I  have  formed  as  many  and  intense  local  at- 
tachments as  any  of  you  mountaineers  can  have  done 
with  dead  nature.  The  lighted  shops  of  the  Strand 
and  Fleet  Street ;  the  innumerable  trades,  tradesmen, 
and  customers,  coaches,  wagons,  play-houses;  all  the 
bustle  and  wickedness  round  about  Covent  Garden; 
the  very  women  of  the  town ;  the  watchmen,  drunken 

44 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

scenes,  rattles ;  life  awake,  if  you  awake,  at  all  hours 
of  the  night ;  the  impossibility  of  being  dull  in  Fleet 
Street;  the  crowds,  the  very  dirt,  and  mud,  the  sun 
shining  upon  houses,  and  pavements,  the  print-shops, 
the  old  bookstalls,  parsons  cheapening  books,  coffee- 
houses, steams  of  spups  from  kitchens,  the  panto- 
mimes— London  itself  a  pantomime  and  a  masquer- 
ade— all  these  things  work  themselves  into  my  mind, 
and  feed  me,  without  a  power  of  satiating  me.  The 
wonder  of  these  sights  impels  me  into  night-walks 
about  the  crowded  streets,  and  I  often  shed  tears  in 
the  motley  Strand  from  fullness  of  joy  at  so  much 
life.  All  these  emotions  must  be  strange  to  you; 
so  are  your  rural  emotions  to  me.  But  consider, 
what  must  I  have  been  doing  all  my  life,  not  to  have 
put  great  portions  of  my  heart  with  usury  to  such 
scenes  ? 

My  attachments  are  all  local,  purely  local.  I  have 
no  passion  (or  have  had  none  since  I  was  in  love,  and 
then  it  was  the  spurious  engendering  of  poetry  and 
books)  for  groves  and  valleys.  The  rooms  where  I 
was  born,  the  furniture  which  has  followed  me  about 
like  a  faithful  dog  (only  exceeding  him  in  knowl- 
edge), wherever  I  have  moved,  old  chairs,  old  tables, 
streets,  squares,  where  I  have  sunned  myself,  my  old 
school, — these  are  my  mistresses.  Have  I  not  enough 
without  your  mountains?  I  do  not  envy  you.  I 
should  pity  you,  did  I  not  know  that  the  mind  will 
make  friends  of  anything.  Your  sun,  and  moon, 
and  skies,  and  hills,  and  lakes,  affect  me  no  more,  or 
scarcely  come  to  me  in  more  venerable  characters, 
45 


LETTEES  AND  LETTEE  WEITING 

than  as  a  gilded  room  with  tapestry  and  tapes,,  where 
I  might  live  with  handsome  visible  objects.  I  con- 
sider the  clouds  above  as  but  a  roof  beautifully 
painted,  but  unable  to  satisfy  the  mind ;  and  at  last, 
like  the  pictures  of  the  apartment  of  a  connoisseur, 
unable  to  afford  him  any  longer  a  pleasure.  So 
fading  upon  me,  from  disuse,  have  been  the  beauties 
of  nature,  as  they  have  been  confinedly  called;  so 
ever  fresh  and  green,  and  warm  are  all  the  inventions 
of  men,  and  assemblies  of  men  in  this  great  city.  I 
should  certainly  have  laughed  with  dear  Joanna. 

Give  my  kindest  love,  and  my  sister's,  to  D.  and 
yourself ;  and  a  kiss  from  me  to  little  Barbara  Lewth- 
waite.  Thank  you  for  liking  my  play.  C.  L. 


WILLIAM    COWPER    TO    JOSEPH    HILL,    DECLINING    AN 
INVITATION 

1769. 
Dear  Joe:- 

Sir  Thomas  crosses  the  Alps  and  Sir  Cowper,  for 
that  is  his  title  at  Olney,  prefers  his  home  to  any 
other  spot  of  earth  in  the  world.  Horace,  observing 
this  difference  of  temper  in  different  persons,  cried 
out,  a  good  many  years  ago,  in  the  true  spirit  of 
poetry,  "How  much  one  man  differs  from  another;" 
this  does  not  seem  a  very  sublime  exclamation  in 
English,  but  I  remember  we  were  taught  to  admire 
it  in  the  original. 

My  dear  friend,  I  am  obliged  to  you  for  your  in- 
vitation; but  being  long  accustomed  to  retirement, 

46 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

which  I  was  always  fond  of,  I  am  now  more  than 
ever  unwilling  to  revisit  those  noisy  and  crowded 
scenes  which  I  never  loved  and  which  I  now  abhor. 
I  remember  you  with  all  the  friendship  I  ever  pro- 
fessed, which  is  as  much  as  I  ever  entertained  for 
any  man.  But  the  strange  and  uncommon  incidents 
of  my  life  have  given  an  entire  new  turn  to  my  whole 
character  and  conduct,  and  rendered  me  incapable 
of  receiving  pleasure  from  the  same  employments 
and  amusements  of  which  I  could  readily  partake 
in  former  days. 

I  love  you  and  yours ;  I  thank  you  for  your  contin- 
ued remembrance  of  me,  and  shall  not  cease  to  be 
their  and  your 

Affectionate  friend  and  servant, 

WM.  COWPER. 

V.    LETTER  OF  PRESENTATION 

ROBERT  BURNS  TO  THE  EARL  OF  BUCHAN 

(With  a  copy  of  "Bruce's  Address  to  his  troops  at 
Bannockburn") 

DUMFRIES,  12th  January,  1794. 
My  Lord: — 

Will  your  Lordship  allow  me  to  present  you  with 
the  enclosed  little  composition  of  mine,  as  a  small 
token  of  gratitude  for  the  acquaintance  with  which 
you  have  been  pleased  to  honor  me.  Independent 
of  my  enthusiasm  as  a  Scotsman,  I  have  rarely  met 
47 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

with  anything  in  history  which  interests  my  feelings 
as  a  man  equal  with  the  story  of  Bannockburn.  On 
the  one  hand,  a  cruel  but  able  usurper,  leading  on  the 
finest  army  in  Europe  to  extinguish  the  last  spark  of 
freedom  among  a  greatly  daring  and  greatly  injured 
people;  on  the  other  hand,  the  desperate  relics  of  a 
gallant  nation  devoting  themselves  to  rescue  their 
bleeding  country,  or  perish  with  her. 

Liberty!  thou  art  a  prize  truly  and  indeed  valu- 
able ;  for  never  canst  thou  be  too  dearly  bought ! 

ROBERT  BURNS. 


VI.    LETTERS  OF  ACKNOWLEDGMENT 

WHITTIER  TO  MISS  ANDERSON,  IN  RECOGNITION  OF  HIS 
BIRTHDAY  CELEBRATION 

AMESBURY,  MASS.,  12  Mo.  21,  1886. 
Dear  Friend: — 

I  heartily  thank  thee  for  thy  interesting  letter  and 
the  account  of  the  hour  devoted  to  myself  and  my 
writings  in  thy  school.  I  am  glad  to  know  that  the 
young  folks  so  pleasantly  remembered  me  on  my 
birthday. 

I  am  very  truly  thy  friend, 

JOHN  G.  WHITTIER. 


48 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 


DOROTHY  STANLEY  TO  OSCAR  C.  McCULLOCH,  FOR  A  COPY 
OF  RILEY'S  POEMS. 


"THE  COATES,"  KANSAS  CITY. 

22d  December,  1890. 
Dear  Mr.  McCulloch  .^— 

I  thank  you  very  much  for  your  kind  and  gracious 
thought,  in  sending  me  Mr.  Riley's  volume  of  poems. 
I  do  not  know  whether  the  poems  of  William  Barnes, 
the  Dorsetshire  poet,  are  known  in  America,  but  these 
poems  of  James  W.  Riley  very  much  remind  me  of 
our  much  appreciated  poet,  who  wrote  all  his  verses 
in  the  Dorset  dialect. 

My  mother  wishes  me  to  thank  you  for  the  paper 
you  sent  her  giving  the  wonderful  list  of  subjects 
and  authors  and  poets  studied  at  your  Plymouth  In- 
stitute.    Everything  I  see  and  hear  in  America  goes 
to  prove  what  a  great  progressive  people  you  are. 
With  Mr.  Stanley's  very  kind  regard,  believe  me, 
Yours  sincerely, 

DOROTHY  STANLEY. 


G.  W.  CURTIS  TO  LOWELL,  UPON  "THE  HARVARD  COM- 
MEMORATION ODE" 

ASHFIELD,  MASS.,  12th  Sept.,  1865. 
My  dear  Lowell: — 

I  thank  you  with  all  my  heart  for  the  noble  ode 
which  with  all  my  heart  I  have  read  and  enjoyed. 
Certainly  you  have  done  nothing  in  a  loftier  strain, 
49 


LETTEES  AND  LETTEE  WEITING 

nor  has  anything  more  truly  worthy  of  the  great 
theme  been  written.  If  it  be  very  serious  and  very 
sad  it  is  for  the  same  reason  that  the  sky  is  blue  and 
the  corn  is  yellow.  I  have  read  it  aloud  to  Anna, 
and  read  and  re-read  it  to  myself ;  and  I  am  sure  it 
says  what  the  truest  American  heart  feels  and  be- 
lieves. And  if  that  is  not  a  work  worth  doing, — if  a 
man  can  do  it,  what  is? 

Affectionately  yours,  and  more  and  more, 

GEORGE  WILLIAM  CURTIS. 

By  permission  of  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co. 
From  Gary's  Life  of  (7.  W.  Curtis. 


FROM  WILLIAM  DEAN  HOWELLS,  RECOGNIZING  AN  AP- 
PRECIATION OF  HIS  WRITINGS 

48  West  59th  St.,  May  18,  1902. 

My  dear  Miss : — 

Those  charming  letters  by  your  pupils  have  reached 
me  after  wandering  round  through  Boston,  and  I 
have  to  thank  you  for  the  very  great  pleasure  you> 
have  done  me  in  sending  them.     Several  of  them 
seem  to  me  as  good  criticisms  as  could  be  written  of 
the  book;  others  mistake  the  intention  slightly;  but< 
they  are  all  surprisingly  intelligent ;  they  are  clearly 
and  simply  expressed,  and  they  seemed  the  genuine, 
unsuggested  opinions  of  their  writers.     No  author 
merits  more  at  the  hands  of  his  critics,  and  for  myl 
part,  I  do  not  ask  more.     I  have  been  touched,  in  a 
way  I  could  not  just  explain,  by  the  apparent  interest 
shown  in  my  work,  and  I  wish  you  would  tell  all  the 

50 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

Juniors  in  the  Shortridge  High  School  how  truly  and 
humbly  proud — "this  was  sometime  a  paradox" — I 
am  of  their  liking.  Without  their  favor  I  could  not 
have  believed  that  I  should  care  anything  for  the 
voice  of  posterity.  Give  them  my  love  along  with 
these  poor  thanks. 

Yours  sincerely, 

W.  D.  HOWELLS. 


FROM  JAMES  WHITCOMB  RILEY 

Dec.  18,  1901. 

Dear  Miss : — 

What  a  very  great  pleasure  the  pupils  of  your 
English  Class  have  given  me,  in  their  general  voice 
of  kindly  acceptance  of  the  simple  songs  I  have  been 
trying  to  sing  since  a  student  at  school  myself — and, 
I  can  but  add,  a  poor  one  indeed,  as  compared  with 
these  most  worthy  ones  who  write  such  very  bright 
and  interesting  letters — all  of  which  I  have  read  with 
an  appreciation  deeper  and  fonder  than  I  can  here 
express.  But  I  do  ask  you  to  speak  for  me  to  your 
students.  Thank  them  for  honoring  and  enriching 
me  with  the  rare  Christmas-present  of  their  praise — 
the  gift  and  the  grace  of  the  gift  which  so  touches 
and  refreshes  an  old  heart  it  seems  made  young 
again — a  veritable  playmate  of  their  own.  So  to 
them  all  my  halest  greetings  and  abiding  love — pray- 
ing, with  the  saintliest  of  children,  Tiny  Tim,  this 


51 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 


sacred  season's  very  gentlest  prayer; — God  bless  us, 


every  one ! 


Always  gratefully  and  truly, 

JAMES  WHITCOMB  RILEY. 


JOHN  BURROUGHS  TO  A  NATURE  CLUB 

WEST  PARK,  N.  Y.,  Oct,  12,  1892. 
My  Dear  Young  Friends: — 

Though  Mr.  had  already -sent  me  a  copy  of 

his  father's  book,  Wood  Notes  Wild,  yet  I  thank 
you  all  the  same  for  remembering  me  so  pleasantly. 

I  think  Mr. 's  notes  on  the  song  birds  very  good 

indeed,  tho'  how  accurately  he  has  rendered  them  on 
the  musical  scale  I  do  not  know,  as  I  do  not  know 
written  music.  What  walkers  you  are — ten  miles  is 
quite  a  stretch.  What  fun  you  must  have,  what 
profit  to  your  health,  and  what  addition  to  your 
knowledge  of  nature !  I  think  there  is  some  danger 
that  you  will  take,  or  are  taking,  the  study  of  nature 
too  seriously.  It  must  not  be  a  task,  but  a  joy. 
Every  excursion  should  be  a  picnic.  Go  out  for  what 
you  can  enjoy,  rather  than  for  what  you  can  find  out. 
The  knowledge  will  come.  Where  the  heart  is  in- 
cluded, the  head  learns  easily.  One  may  have  a 
certain  bloom  and  freshness  of  feeling  about  nature, 
which  too  much  hard  study,  direct  study  of  her,  may 
kill.  Do  not  forget  Wordsworth's  lines  in  his  Poet's 
Epitaph  on  "a  fingering  slave,  one  that  would  peep 
and  botanize  upon  his  mother's  grave."  I  speak  in 
this  way  because  I  fear  that  when  you  grow  older 

52 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

and  the  cares  of  life  begin  to  press  upon  you,  you  will 
feel  that  you  have  exhausted  nature  and  that  you  will 
give  no  time  to  the  fields  and  woods.  Keep  your 
love  fresh  and  eager,  and  remember  that  to  love 
nature  is  better  than  to  know  her;  in  other  words, 
your  knowledge  must  first  of  all  have  a  background 
of  love.  Name  the  birds  and  flowers,  but  do  not 
think  they  are  all  there  in  your  dead  specimen. 

If  I  ever  come  to  Indianapolis  we  will  have  a  walk 
together.  When  you  have  your  pictures  send  them 
to  me.  Hoping  your  love  for  nature  may  never  grow 
dim,  I  am,  Sincerely  yours, 

JOHN  BURROUGHS. 


BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN   TO   NOAH   WEBSTER 

PHILADELPHIA,  December  26,  1789. 
Dear  Sir: — 

I  received  some  time  since  your  Dissertations  on 
the  English  Language.  The  book  was  not  accom- 
panied by  any  letter  or  message  informing  me  to 
whom  I  am  obliged  for  it,  but  I  suppose  it  is  your- 
self. It  is  an  excellent  work  and  will  be  greatly  use- 
ful in  turning  the  thoughts  of  your  countrymen  to 
correct  writing.  Please  to  accept  my  thanks  for  the 
great  honor  you  have  done  me  in  its  dedication.  I 
ought  to  have  made  this  acknowledgment  sooner,  but 
much  indisposition  prevented  me. 

I  can  not  but  applaud  your  zeal  for  preserving  the 
purity  of  our  language,  both  in  its  expression  and 
53 


LETTEES  AND  LETTEE  WEITING 

pronunciation,  and  in  correcting  the  popular  errors 
several  of  our  states  are  continually  falling  into  with 
respect  of  both.  Give  me  leave  to  mention  some  of 
them,  though  possibly  they  may  have  already  occurred 
to  you.  I  wish,  however,  in  some  future  publication 
of  yours,  you  would  set  a  discountenancing  mark 
upon  them.  The  first  I  remember  is  the  word  im- 
proved. When  I  left  New  England,  in  the  year 
1723,  this  word  had  never  been  used  among  us,  as 
far  as  I  know,  but  in  the  sense  of  ameliorated,  or 
made  better,  except  once  in  a  very  old  book  of  Dr. 
Mather's  entitled  Remarkable  Providences.  .  .  . 
But  when  I  returned  to  Boston  in  1733,  I  found  this 
change  had  obtained  favor,  and  was  then  become 
common;  for  I  met  with  it  often  in  perusing  the 
newspapers,  where  it  frequently  made  an  appearance 
rather  ridiculous.  Such,  for  instance,  as  the  adver- 
tisement of  a  country-house  to  be  sold,  which  had 
been  many  years  improved  as  a  tavern ;  and  in  the 
character  of  a  deceased  country  gentleman,  that  he 
had  been  for  more  than  thirty  years  improved  as  a 
justice  of  the  peace.  This  use  of  the  word  improved 
is  peculiar  to  New  England,  and  not  to  be  met  with 
among  any  other  speakers  of  English,  either  on  this 
or  the  other  side  of  the  water. 

The  Latin  language,  long  the  vehicle  used  in  dis- 
tributing knowledge  among  the  different  nations  of 
Europe,  is  daily  more  and  more  neglected;  and  one 
of  the  modern  tongues,  viz.,  the  French,  seems  in 
point  of  universality  to  have  supplied  its  place.  It  is 
spoken  in  all  the  courts  of  Europe ;  and  most  of  the 

54 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

literate,  those  even  who  do  not  speak  it,  have  acquired 
knowledge  enough  of  it  to  enable  them  easily  to  read 
the  books  that  are  written  in  it.  This  gives  a  con- 
siderable advantage  to  that  nation;  it  enables  its 
authors  to  inculcate  and  spread  throughout  other 
nations  such  sentiments  and  opinions  on  important 
points  as  are  most  conducive  to  its  interests,  or  which 
may  contribute  to  its  reputation  by  promoting  the 
common  interests  of  mankind.  It  is  perhaps  owing 
to  its  being  written  in  French,  that  Voltaire's  trea- 
tise on  "Toleration"  has  had  so  sudden  and  so  great  an 
effect  on  the  bigotry  of  Europe,  as  almost  entirely 
to  disarm  it. 

Our  English  bids  fair  to  obtain  the  second  place. 
The  great  body  of  printed  sermons  in  our  language, 
and  the  freedom  of  our  writings  on  political  sub- 
jects, have  induced  a  number  of  divines  of  different 
sects  and  nations,  as  well  as  gentlemen  concerned  in 
public  affairs,  to  study  it;  so  far,  at  least,  as  to  read 
it.  ... 

My  best  wishes  attend  you,  being  with  sincere 
esteem,  Sir,  etc.  B.  FRANKLIN. 

CHARLES  DICKENS  TO  GEORGE  ELIOT,  UPON  RECEIPT 
OF  "SCENES  FROM  A  CLERICAL  LIFE" 

TAVISTOCK  HOUSE,  LONDON, 

Monday,  17th  Jan.  1858. 
My  dear  Sir: — 

I  have  been  so  strongly  affected  by  the  two  first 
tales  in  the  book  you  have  had  the  kindness  to  send 
55 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

me,  through  Messrs.  Blackwood,  that  I  hope  you  will 
excuse  my  writing  to  you  to  express  my  admiration 
of  their  extraordinary  merit.  The  exquisite  truth 
and  delicacy,  both  of  the  humor  and  pathos  of  these 
stories,  I  have  never  seen  the  like  of;  and  they  have 
impressed  me  in  a  manner  that  I  should  find  it  very 
difficult  to  describe  to  you,  if  I  had  the  impertinence 
to  try. 

In  addressing  these  few  words  of  thankfulness  to 
the  creator  of  The  Sad  Fortunes  of  the  Rev.  Amos 
Barton,  and  the  sad  love  story  of  Mr.  Gilfil,  I  am 
(I  presume)  bound  to  adopt  the  name  that  it  pleases 
that  excellent  writer  to  assume.  I  can  suggest  no 
better  one :  but  I  should  have  been  strongly  disposed, 
if  I  had  been  left  to  my  own  devices,  to  address  the 
said  writer  as  a  woman.  I  have  observed  what 
seemed  to  me  such  womanly  touches  in  those  moving 
fictions,  that  the  assurance  on  the  title-page  is  insuffi- 
cient to  satisfy  me  even  now.  If  they  originated 
with  no  woman,  I  believe  that  no  man  ever  before 
had  the  art  of  making  himself  mentally  so  like  a 
woman  since  the  world  began. 

You  will  not  suppose  that  I  have  any  vulgar  wish 
to  fathom  your  secret.  I  mention  the  point  as  one 
of  great  interest  to  me — not  of  mere  curiosity.  If  it 
should  ever  suit  your  convenience  and  inclination  to 
show  me  the  face  of  the  man,  or  woman,  who  has 
written  so  charmingly,  it  will  be  a  very  memorable 
occasion  to  me.  If  otherwise,  I  shall  always  hold 
that  impalpable  personage  in  loving  attachment  and 
respect,  and  shall  yield  myself  up  to  all  future  utter- 

56 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

ances  from  the  same  source,  with  a  perfect  confidence 
in  their  making  me  wiser  and  better. 

Your  obliged  and  faithful  servant  and  admirer, 

CHARLES  DICKENS. 

GEORGE  ELIOT,  ESQ. 

«« 

FROM  GEORGE  ELIOT,   IN   APPRECIATION   OF   DICKENS'S 
LETTER 

(Letter  to  John  Blackwood,  January  21,  1858) 

Dear  Sir: — 

I  am  sure  you  will  be  interested  in  Dickens's  letter, 
which  I  enclose,  begging  you  to  return  it  as  soon  as 
you  can,  and  not  to  allow  any  one  beside  yourself 
and  Major  Blackwood  to  share  in  the  knowledge  of 
its  contents.  There  can  be  no  harm,  of  course,  in 
every  one's  knowing  that  Dickens  admires  the 
Scenes,  but  I  should  not  like  any  more  specific 
allusion  made  to  the  words  of  a  private  letter.  There 
can  hardly  be  any  climax  of  approbation  for  me  after 
this ;  and  I  am  so  deeply  moved  by  the  finely  felt  and 
finely  expressed  sympathy  of  the  letter,  that  the  iron 
mask  of  the  incognito  seems  quite  painful  in  for- 
bidding me  to  tell  Dickens  how  thoroughly  his  gener- 
ous impulse  has  been  appreciated.  If  you  should 
have  an  opportunity  of  conveying  this  feeling  of 
mine  to  him  in  any  way,  you  would  oblige  me  by 
doing  so. 


57 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

RALPH     WALDO     EMERSON"     TO     MR.     J.     HUTCHINSON 
STIRLING,    LL.     D.,    GLASGOW    UNIVERSITY 

(The  Independent  Club  of  Glasgow  University  placed 
Mr.  Emerson  in  nomination  for  the  office  of  Lord-Rector. 
He  received  five  hundred  votes  against  seven  hundred 
for  Disraeli,  who  was  elected.  This  event  showed  a  high 
appreciation  of  Mr.  Emerson's  character.) 

CONCORD,  5th  January,  1875. 
My  dear  Dr.  Stirling : — 

I  can  not  forgive  myself  for  my  tardiness  in  telling 
you  how  deeply  I  have  felt  your  interest  and  care 
in  my  behalf  at  Glasgow.  Yet  I  was,  and  am,  deeply 
sensible  of  your  heroic  generosity  in  the  care  of  my 
interest  in  the  late  election.  I  could  never,  from  the 
first  to  the  last  act  in  the  affair,  bring  myself  to  be- 
lieve that  the  brave  nomination  of  the  independents 
would  succeed,  and  could  hardly  trust  the  truth  of 
the  telegram,  which  at  last  brought  me  so  dignified 
a  result  as  five  hundred  votes  in  our  behalf.  I  count 
that  vote  as  quite  the  fairest  laurel  that  has  ever 
fallen  on  me ;  and  I  can  not  but  feel  deeply  grateful 
to  my  young  friends  in  the  university,  and  to  your- 
self, who  have  been  their  counselor  and  my  too  par- 
tial advocate.  Of  course  such  an  approach  to  success 
gave  me  lively  thoughts  of  what  could  have  been  at- 
tempted and  at  least  approached  in  meeting  and 
dealing  with  the  university,  if  my  friends  had  suc- 
ceeded ;  but  I  hope  the  stimulus  they  have  given  me 
will  not  be  wholly  lost.  Probably  I  have  never  seen 
58 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

one  of  these  five  hundred  young  men;  and  thus  they 
show  us  that  our  recorded  thoughts  give  the  means 
of  reaching  those  who  think  with  us  in  other  coun- 
tries, and  make  closer  alliances  sometimes  than  life- 
long neighborhood.  To  be  sure,  the  truth  is  hack- 
neyed, but  it  never  came  to  me  in  so  palpable  a  form. 
It  is  easy  to  me  to  gather  from  your  letters,  and  from 
those  of  Mr.  Herkless,  and  from  the  printed  papers, 
how  generously  you  have  espoused  and  aided  my 
champions;  and  it  only  adds  one  more  to  the  many 
deep  debts  which  I  owe  to  you.  I  never  lose  the 
hope  that  you  will  come  to  us  at  no  distant  day,  and 
be  our  king  in  philosophy. 

With  affectionate  regards, 

R.  WALDO  EMERSON. 
MR.  J.  HUTCHINSON  STIRLING,  LL.  D. 

By  permission  of  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co. 

From  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson,  by  G.  W.  Cooke. 


CARLYLE  TO  EMERSON 

(Extract) 

5  GREAT  CHEYNE  Row,  CHELSEA,  LONDON, 

12th  August,  1834. 
My  dear  Sir: — 

Some  two  weeks  ago  I  received  your  kind  giftv 
from  Frazer.     To  say  that  it  was  welcome  would  be  V 
saying  little:  is  it  not  as  a  voice  of  affectionate  re- 
membrance, coming  from  beyond  the  ocean  waters, 
first  decisively  announcing  for  me  that  a  whole  new 
59 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

continent  exists — that  I,  too,  have  part  and  lot  there  ! 
"Not  till  we  can  think  that  here  and  there  one  is 
thinking  of  us,  one  is  loving  us,  does  this  waste  earth 
become  a  peopled  garden."  Among  the  figures  I  can 
recollect  as  visiting  our  Mthsdale  hermitage,  all  like 
apparitions  now,  bringing  with  them  airs  from 
heaven,  or  else  blasts  from  the  other  region,  there  is 
perhaps  not  one  of  a  more  undoubtedly  supernal 
character  than  yourself:  so  pure,  and  still  with  in- 
tents so  charitable;  and,  then,  vanishing  too  so  soon 
into  the  azure  Inane  as  an  apparition  should !  Never 
has  your  address  in  my  note  book  met  my  eye  but  with 
a  friendly  influence.  Judge  if  I  am  glad  to  know 
that  there,  in  infinite  space,  you  still  hold  by  me. 
.  .  .  And  so  here,  looking  over  the  water,  let  me 
repeat  once  more  what  I  believe  is  already  dimly  the 
sentiment  of  all  Englishmen,  cisoceanic  and  trans- 
oceanic, that  we  and  you  are  not  two  countries,  and 
can  not  for  the  life  of  us  be ;  but  only  two  parishes  of 
one  country.  .  .  .  Continue  to  love  me,  you  and 
my  other  friend ;  and  as  packets  sail  so  swiftly,  let  me 
know  it  frequently.  All  good  be  with  you. 

Most  faithfully, 

T.  CARLYLE. 

By  special  permission  of  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co. 

From    The    Correspondence    of    Emerson    and    Carlyle, 

1834-1872. 


60 


LETTEKS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

JAMES  RUSSELL  LOWELL  TO  R.  W.  EMERSON 

ELMWOOD,  Oct.  14,  1868. 
My  dear  Sir: — 

If  you  had  known  what  a  poem  your  two  tickets 
contained  for  me,  how  much  they  recalled,  how  many 
vanished  faces  of  thirty  years  ago,  how  much  grati- 
tude for  all  you  have  been  and  are  to  us  younger  men 
(a  debt  I  always  love  to  acknowledge,  though  I  can 
never  repay  it),  you  would  not  have  dreamed  of  my 
not  being  an  eager  hearer  during  the  whole  course. 
Even  were  I  not  sure  (as  I  always  am  with  you)  of 
having  what  is  best  in  me  heightened  and  strength- 
ened, I  should  go  out  of  loyalty  to  what  has  been  one 
of  the  great  privileges  of  my  life.  I,  for  one, 

"Obey  the  voice  at  eve  obeyed  at  prime" 
and  you  may  be  sure  of  one  pair  of  ears  in  which  the 
voice  is  always  musical  and  magisterial,  too.     .     .     . 
I  am  gratefully  and  affectionately, 

Your  liegeman, 

J.  R.  LOWELL. 

From  Letters  of  James  Russell  Lowell. 

Copyrighted,   1893,  by  Harper  &  Bros. 

MARQUIS  DE  LAFAYETTE  TO  DR.  FRANKLIN 

HAVRE,  29th  August,  1779. 
Sir:— 

Whatever    expectations    might   have   been    raised 
from  the  sense  of  past  favors,  the  goodness  of  the 
61 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

United  States  for  me  has  ever  been  such,  that  on 
every  occasion  it  far  surpasses  any  idea  I  could  have 
conceived.  A  new  proof  of  that  flattering  truth  I 
find  in  the  noble  present,  which  Congress  has  been 
pleased  to  honor  me  with,  and  which  is  offered  in 
such  a  manner  by  your  Excellency,  as  will  exceed 
anything  but  the  feelings  of  my  unbounded  gratitude. 

In  some  of  the  devices  I  can  not  help  finding  too 
honorable  a  reward  for  those  slight  services,  which 
in  concert  with  my  fellow  soldiers,  and  under  the 
Godlike  American  hero's  orders,  I  had  the  good  luck 
to  render.  The  sight  of  these  actions,  where  I  was 
a  witness  of  American  bravery  and  patriotic  spirit, 
I  shall  ever  enjoy  with  that  pleasure,  which  becomes 
a  heart  glowing  with  love  for  the  nation,  and  the  most 
ardent  zeal  for  their  glory  and  happiness.  Assur- 
ances of  gratitude,  which  I  beg  leave  to  present  to 
your  Excellency,  are  much  too  inadequate  to  my  feel- 
ings, and  nothing  but  those  sentiments  may  properly 
acknowledge  your  kindness  toward  me.  The  polite 
manner  in  which  Mr.  Franklin  was  pleased  to  de- 
liver that  inestimable  sword,  lays  me  under  great  ob- 
ligations to  him,  and  demands  my  particular  thanks. 

With  the  most  perfect  respect,  I  have  the  honor  to 
be,  etc.  LAFAYETTE. 


62 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

DECLINATION    TO   ACKNOWLEDGE   FAVOR 
DR.   SAMUEL  JOHNSON  TO  LORD   CHESTERFIELD 

(When  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson's  A  Dictionary  of  the 
English  Language? 17 55,  was  about  to  be  published,  Lord 
Chesterfield  wrote  in  praise  of  it,  hoping  to  secure  the 
dedication  of  it  to  himself;  but  Johnson  remembered 
Chesterfield's  refusal  of  favor  to  him  at  a  former  time  of 
need,  and  wrote  the  following  letter,  which  is  remark- 
able for  its  sarcasm,  vigor,  and  well-chosen  diction,  and 
serves  as  a  sample  of  Johnson's  style.) 

My  Lord: — 

fV  I  have  been  lately  informed,  by  the  proprietor  of 
The  World,  that  two  papers  in  which  my  Diction- 
ary is  recommended  to  the  public,  were  written  by 
your  Lordship.  To  be  so  distinguished,  is  an  honor 
which,  being  very  little  accustomed  to  favors  from 
the  great,  I  know  not  well  how  to  receive,  or  in  what 
terms  to  acknowledge.  .  .  . 

Seven  years,  my  Lord,  have  now  passed  since  I 
waited  in  your  outward  rooms,  or  was  repulsed  from 
your  door;  during  which  time  I  have  been  pushing 
on  my  work  through  difficulties,  of  which  it  is  use- 
less to  complain,  and  have  brought  it,  at  last,  to  the 
verge  of  publication,  without  one  act  of  assistance, 
one  word  of  encouragement,  or  one  smile  of  favor. 
Such  treatment  I  did  not  expect,  for  I  never  had  a 
patron  before.  ...  Is  not  a  patron,  my  Lord, 
one  who  looks  with  unconcern  on  a  man  struggling 
for  life  in  the  water,  and  when  he  has  reached  the 
ground,  encumbers  him  with  help? 
63 


LETTERS  AND  LETTEE  WEITING 

The  notice  which  you  have  been  pleased  to  take  of 
my  labors,  had  it  been  early,  had  been  kind;  but  it 
has  been  delayed  till  I  am  indifferent,  and  can  not 
enjoy  it,  ...  till  I  am  known,  and  do  not  want 
it.  I  hope  it  is  n6  very  cynical  asperity  ...  to 
be  unwilling  that  the  public  should  consider  me  as 
owing  that  to  a  patron  which  Providence  has  enabled 
me  to  do  for  myself. 

Having  carried  on  my  work  thus  far  with  so  little 
obligation  to  any  favor  of  learning,  I  shall  not  be 
disappointed  though  I  should  conclude  it,  if  less  be 
possible,  with  less. 

VII.   LETTERS  OF  RECOMMENDATION 
FROM  JOSIAH  QUINCY 

HARVARD  UNIVERSITY,  CAMBRIDGE, 

March  26,  1838. 
To  whom  it  may  concern : — 

I  certify  that  Henry  D.  Thoreau,  of  Concord,  in 
this  state  of  Massachusetts,  graduated  at  this  semi- 
nary in  August,  1837;  that  his  rank  was  high  as  a 
scholar  in  all  branches,  and  his  morals  and  general 
conduct  unexceptional  and  exemplary.  He  is  rec- 
ommended as  well  qualified  as  an  instructor,  for 
employment  in  any  public  or  private  school  or  private 
family.  JOSIAH  QUINCY, 

President  of  Harvard  University. 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 


CICERO  TO  CAESAR  IN  GAUL 

ROME,  February. 

Cicero  greets  Caesar,  Imperator.  Observe  how  far 
I  have  convinced  myself  that  you  are  my  second  self, 
not  only  in  matters  which  concern  me  personally,  but 
even  in  those  which  concern  my  friends.  It  had  been 
my  intention  to  take  Caius  Trebatius  with  me  for 
whatever  destination  I  should  be  leaving  town,  in 
order  to  bring  him  home  again  honored  as  much  as 
my  zeal  and  favor  could  make  him. 

But  when  Pompey  remained  at  home  longer  than 
I  expected,  and  a  certain  hesitation  on  my  part  (with 
which  you  are  not  unacquainted)  appeared  to  hinder, 
or  at  any  rate  to  retard,  my  departure,  I  presumed 
on  what  I  will  now  explain  to  you.  I  begin  to  wish 
that  Trebatius  should  look  to  you  for  what  he  had 
hoped  from  me,  and,  in  fact,  I  have  been  no  more 
sparing  of  my  promises  of  good  will  on  your  part 
than  I  had  been  wont  to  be  of  my  own.  Moreover, 
an  extraordinary  coincidence  has  occurred  which 
seems  to  support  my  opinion  and  to  guarantee  your 
kindness.  For  just  as  I  was  speaking  to  our  friend 
Balbus  about  this  very  Trebatius  at  my  house  with 
more  than  usual  earnestness,  a  letter  from  you  was 
handed  to  me,  at  the  end  of  which  you  say:  "Mis- 
cinius  Rufus,  whom  you  recommend  to  me,  I  will 
make  king  of  Gaul,  or,  if  you  choose,  put  him  under 
the  care  of  Lepta.  Send  me  some  one  else  to  pro- 
mote." ...  I  therefore  send  you  Trebatius,  and 
on  two  grounds,  first,  that  it  was  my  spontaneous  idea 
65 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WETTING 

to  send  him,  and  secondly,  because  you  have  invited 
me  to  do  so.  ...  As  for  him  I  guarantee  .  .  . 
that  no  honester,  better,  or  more  modest  man  exists ; 
added  to  this,  he  is  at  the  top  of  his  profession  as 
jurisconsult,  possesses  an  unequaled  memory  and  the 
most  profound  learning.  For  such  a  man  I  ask 
neither  a  tribuneship,  prefecture,  nor  any  definite 
office ;  I  ask  only  your  good  will  and  liberality.  .  . 
Be  careful  of  your  health  and  continue  to  love  me 
as  ever. 

7/77.   LETTEES  OF  REQUEST 

ROBERT  BURNS  TO  ROBERT  GRAHAM,  ESQ. 

Sir:— 

When  I  had  the  honor  of  being  introduced  to  you 
at  Athole  House,  I  did  not  so  soon  think  of  asking  a 
favor  of  you.  When  Lear,  in  Shakespeare,  asked  old 
Kent  why  he  wished  to  be  in  his  service,  he  answered : 
"Because  you  have  that  in  your  face  which  I  would 
fain  call  master."  For  some  such  reason,  Sir,  do  I 
now  solicit  your  patronage.  You  know,  I  dare  say, 
of  an  application  I  lately  made  to  your  Board  to  be 
admitted  an  officer  of  Excise.  I  have,  according  to 
form,  been  examined  by  a  supervisor,  and  to-day  I 
gave  in  his  certificate,  with  a  request  for  an  order 
for  instructions.  In  this  affair,  if  I  succeed,  I  am 
afraid  I  shall  but  too  much  need  a  patronizing  friend. 
Propriety  of  conduct  as  a  man,  and  fidelity  and  at- 
tention as  an  officer,  I  dare  engage  for;  but  with 
66 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

anything  like  business,  except  manual  labor,  I  am 
totally  unacquainted. 

I  had  intended  to  close  my  late  appearance  on  the 
stage  of  life  in  the  character  of  a  country  farmer; 
but  after  discharging  some  filial  and  fraternal 
claims,  I  find  I  could  only  fight  for  existence  in  that 
miserable  manner  which  I  have  lived  to  see  throw 
a  venerable  parent  into  the  jaws  of  a  jail;  whence 
death,  the  poor  man's  last  and  often  best  friend,  res- 
cued him. 

I  know,  Sir,  that  to  need  your  goodness  is  to  have 
claim  on  it ;  may  I,  therefore,  beg  your  patronage  to 
forward  me  in  this  affair  till  I  be  appointed  to  a 
division,  where  by  the  use  of  rigid  economy,  I  will  try 
to  support  that  independence  so  dear  to  my  soul,  but 
which  has  been  too  often  so  distant  from  my  sit- 
uation? ROBERT  BURNS. 


REFUSAL  TO  COMPLY  WITH  REQUEST 
FROM  JOHN  RUSKIN 

BRANTWOOD,  CONISTON,  LANCASHIRE, 

May  19,  1886. 
Sir:— 

I  am  scornfully  amused  at  }^our  appeal  to  me,  of  all 
people  in  the  world  the  precisely  least  likely  to  give 
you  a  farthing!  My  first  word  to  all  men  and  boys 
who  care  to  hear  me  is  "Don't  get  into  debt.  Starve 
and  go  to  heaven — but  don't  borrow.  Try  first  beg- 


67 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

ging — I  don't  mind,  if  it's  really  needful,  stealing! 
But  don't  buy  things  you  can't  pay  for !"     *     *     * 
Ever,  nevertheless,  and  in  all  this  saying, 
Your  faithful  servant, 

JOHN  RUSKIN. 


FROM  RICHARD  WATSON  GILDER,  WITH  THE  RETURN  OF 
A  MANUSCRIPT 

MARION,  MASS.,  August  19, 1885. 
My  dear : — 

The  little  MS.  book  you  let  me  see  (and  I  thank 
you  for  the  compliment)  interested  me  greatly. 

The  criticism  I  would  make  on  it  is  similar  to  the 
one  I  remember  making  on  a  poem  by  a  charming 
young  woman  to  whom  I  lately  returned  her  manu- 
script. I  find  color  here,  poetic  color,  as  I  find  it  on 
the  palette  of  a  painter, — it  has  a  rich  look, — but  it 
has  not  been  put  on  canvas  in  the  form  of  a  picture. 
In  other  words,  I  find  lovely  thoughts  and  poetic 
lines,  but  seldom,  if  ever,  what  seemed  to  me  a  com- 
plete and  satisfying  poem.  I  may  be  mistaken  in 
this — but  the  person  who  wrote  that  little  book  can, 
and  will,  if  he  buckles  to  it,  write  genuine  and  fin- 
ished poems.  So  mote  it  be  ! 

Sincerely, 

R.  W.  GILDER. 


68 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 
IX.   LETTERS  OF  ADVICE 

LORD  CHESTERFIELD  TO  HIS  SON 

•4 

LONDON,  July  the  26th,  1748. 
Dear  Boy: — 

There  are  two  sorts  of  understandings;  one  of 
which  hinders  a  man  from  ever  being  considerable, 
and  the  other  commonly  makes  him  ridiculous;  I 
mean  the  lazy  mind,  and  the  trifling,  frivolous  mind. 
Yours,  I  hope,  is  neither.  The  lazy  mind  will  not 
take  the  trouble  of  going  to  the  bottom  of  anything, 
but,  discouraged  by  the  first  difficulties  (and  every- 
thing worth  knowing  or  having  is  attended  with 
some),  stops  short,  contents  itself  with  easy,  and  con- 
sequently, superficial,  knowledge,  and  prefers  a  great 
degree  of  ignorance  to  a  small  degree  of  trouble. 
These  people  either  think  or  represent  most  things 
as  impossible,  whereas  few  things  are  so  to  industry 
and  activity.  But  difficulties  seem  to  them  impossi- 
bilities, or  at  least  they  pretend  to  think  them  so,  by 
way  of  excuse  for  their  laziness.  An  hour's  attention 
to  the  same  object  is  too  laborious  for  them;  they 
take  everything  in  the  light  in  which  it  first  presents 
itself,  never  consider  it  in  all  its  different  views,  and, 
in  short,  never  think  it  thorough.  The  consequence 
of  this  is,  that  when  they  come  to  speak  upon  these 
subjects  before  people  who  have  considered  them 
with  attention,  they  only  discover  their  own  ignor- 
ance and  laziness,  and  lay  themselves  open  to  answers 
69 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

that  put  them  in  confusion.  Do  not,  then,  be  discour- 
aged by  the  first  difficulties  but  resolve  to  go  to  the 
bottom  of  all  those  things  which  every  gentleman 
ought  to  know  well.  Such  are  languages,  history, 
and  geography,  ancient  and  modern;  philosophy,  ra- 
tional logic,  rhetoric;  and,  for  you  particularly,  the 
constitution,  and  the  civil  and  military  state  of 
every  country  in  Europe.  This,  I  confess,  is  a  pretty 
large  circle  of  knowledge,  attended  with  some  diffi- 
culties, and  requiring  some  trouble;  which,  how- 
ever, an  active  and  industrious  mind  will  overcome, 
and  be  amply  repaid  by.  Read  only  useful  books, 
and  never  quit  a  subject  till  you  are  thoroughly 
master  of  it,  but  read  and  inquire  on  till  then.  When 
you  are  in  company,  bring  the  conversation  to  some 
useful  subject.  Never  be  ashamed  nor  afraid  of 
asking  questions;  for  if  they  lead  to  information, 
and  if  you  accompany  them  with  some  excuse,  you 
will  never  be  reckoned  an  impertinent  or  rude  ques- 
tioner. Adieu. 


FROM  JOHN"  BURROUGHS 

WEST  PARK,  N.  Y.,  April  3d,  '93. 
Dear  Boys  and  Girls: — 

I  write  you  this  line  on  my  birthday,  my  fifty- 
sixth.  And  the  best  thing  I  can  say  about  myself  is 
that  I  am  at  heart  a  boy  still.  One  may  lose  wealth 
and  regain  it,  one  may  lose  health  and  regain  it, 
one  may  lose  friends  and  find  others,  but  youth  once 

70 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

gone  is  gone  for  ever.  The  best  receipt  I  know  of 
to  keep  the  heart  young  is  love  of  nature.  Love, 
anyway,  is  the  great  preserver,  while  hate,  envy,  jeal- 
ousy, are  the  real  destroyers.  To  keep  your  hearts 
young  keep  them  full  of  love. 

Always  your  friend, 

JOHN  BURROUGHS. 


EDWARD  ROWLAND  SILL  TO  A  PUPIL 

Your  question  of  26th  May  was  too  good  a  one  to 
leave  so  long  unanswered.  It  was  not  left  as  being 
too  hard  to  answer,  but  I  have  been  very  busy,  and 
really  could  not  find  time  to  settle  myself  to  say  any- 
thing on  so  important  a  question  till  to-night,  and 
now  it  must  be  a  brief  note. 

The  real  value  of  "being  well  read"  seems  to  me 
to  be  in  the  wider  and  truer  life  it  gives  us.  By 
"wider"  I  mean  that  our  thoughts  and  feelings  and 
purposes  are  more  complex  and  more  consonant  with 
the  complexity  and  manifoldness  of  the  universe  we 
live  in:  the  microcosm  gets  a  little — even  if  a  very 
little — nearer  in  quantity  and  quality  to  the  macro- 
cosm. The  crystal  leads  such  a  narrow  life — just 
along  one  little  line — a  single  law  of  facet  and  angle ; 
the  plant  a  little  wider;  the  fish  a  little  wider;  and 
the  different  sorts  of  people  widening  and  widening 
out  in  their  inner  activities — and  much  according  to 
their  reading  (since  living  human  contact  is  not  pos- 
sible, except  with  a  few  relatives  and  neighbors). 

71 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

And  by  truer  life,  I  mean  truer  to  nature ;  more  as 
we  were  meant  to  be;  the  inner  relations  between 
ideas  corresponding  closer  to  the  outer  relations,  or 
"real"  relations,  between  things.  These  real-thing- 
relations  are  in  fact  very  complex  and  vastly  inclu- 
sive ;  so  must  the  thoughts  and  feelings  be,  if  "true," 
or  truly  correspondent  or  mirror-like  to  them. 

I  don't  see  that  culture  (unless  you  spell  it  wrong 
[cult  your])  needs,  or  tends  at  all,  to  cut  one  off 
from  human  warmth.  Are  not  some  of  the  "best- 
read"  people  you  know  or  hear  of  some  of  the  broad- 
est-hearted also?  The  very  essence  of  culture  is 
shaking  off  the  nightmare  of  self-consciousness  and 
self-absorption  and  attaining  a  sort  of  Christian 
Nirvana — lost  in  the  great  whole  of  humanity, 
thinking  of  others,  caring  for  others,  admiring  and 
loving  others. 

I  should  like  to  have  you  write  me  more  fully 
about  it  some  time. 

Taken  from  A  Memorial  of  Edward  Rowland  Sill,  printed 
for  private  circulation  and  containing,  together  with  a  few  of 
his  letters,  the  papers  read  at  the  memorial  meeting  held  by 
the  Berkeley  Club  at  Oakland,  California,  14th  April,  1887. 

FROM   CHARLES   DUDLEY  WARNER 

UNIVERSITY  CLUB,  MADISON  SQUARE, 

NEW  YORK,  March  11,  1893. 
Dear  Indianapolis  Children: — 

It  is  your  privilege  to  be  young.  It  is  a  great  op- 
portunity. The  world  is  also  before  you,  and  you  can 
make  it  for  yourselves,  substantially,  what  you  will. 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

For,  remember,  this  world  you  are  to  live  in  and  see 
the  work  of  is  yourselves.  I  pity  a  boy  and  still  more 
a  girl  who  is  not  good  company  for  himself  or  her- 
self. And  the  person  who  is  not  good  company  for 
himself  will  not  ha  good  company  for  anybody  else. 

Most  of  you  will  live  in  the  twentieth  century.  It  is 
going  to  be  a  great  century.  I  hope  you  are  getting 
ready  for  it,  and  will  help  to  make  it  a  good  deal 
better  than  the  nineteenth. 

With  cordial  greetings,  yours  sincerely, 

CHAS.  DUDLEY  WARNER. 


FROM  EDWARD  EGGLESTON 

Dear  Boys  and  Girls: — 

My  advice  to  you  is  to  try  to  have  a  good  time  in 
the  world.  Get  your  pleasure  always  at  your  own  and 
not  at  other  people's  expense;  let  it  always  be  good, 
honest,  clean  happiness,  with  nothing  wrong  about  it. 
But  don't,  on  any  account,  fail  to  have  a  good  time. 
If  life  should  go  hard  with  you,  so  that  you  can't  have 
a  very  good  time,  why,  then  have  just  as  good  a  time 
as  you  can  at  all  hazards. 

EDW.  EGGLESTON. 

New  York,  March,  1893. 


73 


LETTERS  AND  LETTEE  WRITING 

JAMES  RUSSELL  LOWELL  TO  EDWARD  M.   DAVIS 

ELMWOOD,  July  24,  1845. 
My  Dear  Friend: — 

.  .  .  If  you  had  cast  about  for  a  hard  question 
to  ask  me,  you  could  not  have  been  more  successful 
than  in  desiring  my  advice  in  a  course  of  reading. 
I  suppose  that  very  few  men  who  are  bred  scholars 
ever  think  of  such  a  thing  as  a  course  of  reading 
after  their  freshman  year  in  college.  Their  situation 
throws  books  constantly  in  their  way,  and  they  select 
by  a  kind  of  instinct  the  food  which  will  suit  their 
mental  digestion,  acquiring  knowledge  insensibly,  as 
the  earth  gathers  soil.  This  was  wholly  the  case 
with  myself.  ...  If  I  were  in  your  case,  I 
should  read  History.  Hume  and  Smollett  for  Eng- 
land, Robertson  for  Scotland,  Niebuhr  and  Gibbon 
for  Rome,  Mitford  for  Greece,  Bancroft  for  America, 
Thucydides  and  Livy  and  Herodotus  you  can  read  in 
translations,  also  Tacitus.  Read  them  always  with  a 
modern  eye  and  note  how  exactly  alike  men  have 
been  in  all  ages  of  the  world,  as  far  as  the  external 
motives  of  life  go.  In  the  internal  you  will  find  a 
steady  progress.  You  will  see  men  in  every  age  with 
high  moral  principle  .  .  .  with  inspiration. 
.  .  .  After  you  have  once  begun  to  read  you  will 
need  no  advice.  One  book  will  lead  to  another  and 
that  to  a  third.  .  .  .  Farewell. 

I  remain,  with  true  love,  your  friend, 

J.  R.  L. 

From  Letters  of  James  Russell  Lowell. 

Copyrighted,  1893,  by  Harper  &  Bros. 

74 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

X.   LETTERS  OF  APPRECIATION 

1.     Of  Music 

«* 

SIDNEY  LANIER  TO  HIS  WIFE 

(Extracts) 

1874. 

To-day  I  played  for  the  great  Dr.  Damrosch,  and 
won  him.  I  sang  the  Wind  Song  to  him.  When  I 
finished  he  came  and  shook  my  hand,  and  said  it  was 
done  like  an  artist:  that  it  was  wonderful,  in  view 
of  my  education ;  and  that  he  was  greatly  astonished 
and  pleased  with  the  poetry  of  the  piece  and  the  en- 
thusiasm of  its  rendering.  He  then  closed  the  door 
on  his  next  pupil,  and  kept  him  waiting  in  the  front 
parlor  a  half-hour,  while  giving  me  a  long  talk.  I 
had  told  him  that  I  wished  to  pursue  music.  He 
said,  "Do  you  know  what  that  means?  It  means  a 
great  deal  of  work;  it  means  a  thousand  sacri- 
fices. It  is  very  hazardous."  I  replied,  I  knew  all 
that;  but  it  was  not  a  matter  of  mere  preference,  it 
was  a  spiritual  necessity,  I  must  be  a  musician,  I 
could  not  help  it.  This  seemed  to  please  him ;  and  he 
went  on  to  speak  as  no  other  musician  here  could 
speak,  of  many  things.  He  is  the  only  poet  among 
the  craft  here;  and  is  a  thoroughly  cultivated  man. 
in  all  particulars.  He  offered  to  do  all  he  could  in 
my  behalf;  and  was,  altogether,  the  gentleman  and 
the  wise  artist. 

75 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

NEW  YORK,  August  15,  1870. 
Ah,  how  they  have  belied  Wagner !  I  heard  Theo- 
dore Thomas's  orchestra  play  his  overture  to  Tann- 
hduser.  The  "Music  of  the  Future"  is  surely  thy 
music  and  my  music.  Each  harmony  was  a  chorus  of 
pure  aspirations.  The  sequences  flowed  along,  one 
after  another,  as  if  all  the  great  and  noble  deeds  of 
time  had  formed  a  procession  and  marched  in  review- 
before  one's  ears,  instead  of  one's  eyes.  These  "great 
and  noble  deeds"  were  not  deeds  of  war  and  states- 
manship, but  majestic  victories  of  inner  struggles  of  a 
man.  This  unbroken  march  of  beautiful-bodied  tri- 
umphs irresistibly  invites  the  soul  of  a  man  to  create 
other  processions  like  it.  I  would  I  might  lead  a  so 
magnificent  file  of  glories  into  heaven. 

MACON,  GA.,  March  3,  1870. 

If  the  year  were  an  orchestra,  to-day  would  be  the 
calm-passionate,  even,  intense,  quiet,  full,  ineffable 
flute  therein.  In  this  sunshine  one  is  penetrated 
with  flute-tones. 

The  passion  of  the  struggling  births  of  a  thousand 
spring-germs  mingles  itself  with  the  peaceful  smiles 
of  the  heavens  and  with  the  tender  agitation  of  the 
air.  It  is  a  mellow  sound,  with  a  shimmer  of  light 
trembling  through  it. 

To-day  is  a  prophecy  of  the  new  earth :  as  ... 
Music  is  a  prophecy  of  another  life.  To-day  floats 
down  Time  as  one  petal  of  a  Lily  on  the  bosom  of  a 
swift  stream,  silently  it  tells,  at  once,  of  the  gap  it 
has  left  in  the  full  Lily,  and  of  the  ocean  whither  it 

76 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

drifts  to  be  engulfed,  to  die,  and  to  live  again  in 
other  forms. 

To-day  comes  as  a  friend  with  some  serene  great 
joy  in  his  eyes.  He  whispers  his  sacred  exultation: 
and  will  not  speak  k  aloud,  for  its  holiness. 

From  The  Letters  of  Sidney  Lanier. 

Coyprighted  by  Charles  Scribner's  Sons. 


2.     Of  Nature 

MARIA  WHITE  TO  MRS.  HAWTHORNE 

(Extracts) 

.  .  .  Is  not  June  the  crown  of  the  year,  the  Car- 
nival of  Nature,  when  the  trees  pelt  each  other  with 
blossoms,  and  are  stirring  and  bending  when  no  wind 
is  near  them,  because  they  are  so  full  of  inward  life, 
and  must  shiver  for  joy  to  feel  how  fast  the  sap  is 
rushing  up  from  the  ground  ?  On  such  days  can  you 
sing  anything  but  "Oh,  beautiful  love  ?"  Doesn't  it 
seem  as  if  Nature  wore  your  livery  and  wished  to 
show  the  joy  of  your  heart  in  every  possible  form? 
The  everlasting  hum  and  seething  of  myriad  life 
satisfies  and  soothes  me.  I  feel  as  if  something  were 
going  on  in  the  world,  else  why  all  this  shouting,  and 
bedecking  of  every  weed  in  its  best,  this  endless 
strain  from  every  tiny  weed  or  great  oaken  flute? 
All  that  can  not  sing,  dances;  the  gnats  in  the  air 
and  the  long-legged  spider  on  the  water.  Even  the 
77 


LETTEES  AND  LETTEE  WEITING 

ants  and  beetles,  the  workers  that  are  quoted  for  ex- 
amples by  hoarding  men,,  run  about  doing  nothing, 
putting  their  busy  antenna?  into  everything,  tum- 
bling over  the  brown  mold  for  sheer  enjoyment, 
and  running  home  at  last  without  the  little  white  pa- 
per parcel  in  their  mouths  which  gives  them  so  re- 
spectable an  air.  Doubtless  the  poor  things  are 
scolded  by  their  infirm  parents,  who  sit  sunning 
themselves  at  the  door  of  their  house. 

.  .  .  Beetles  seem  to  me  to  have  a  pleasant  life, 
because  they,  who  have  fed  for  two  or  three  years 
underground  upon  the  roots,  come  forth  at  last 
winged,  and  find  their  nourishment  in  the  blooms  of 
the  very  same  tree.  It  comforts  me,  because  we  have 
ourselves  to  eat  many  bitter  roots  here,  whose  per- 
fect flower  shall  one  day  delight  us.  This,  dear 
Sophia,  has  been  a  long  ramble. 

I  promised  to  copy  that  sonnet  of  James's  for  you, 
so  I  enclose  it. 

With  true  sympathy  and  love, 
Affectionately  yours, 

MARIA  WHITE. 

By  permission  of  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co. 

From    Memories    of    Hawthorne,    by    Rose    Hawthorne 
Lathrop. 

WILLIAM  COWPER  TO  JOHN  JOHN,  ESQUIRE 

WESTON,  March  11,  1792. 
My  Dearest  Johnny: — 

You  talk  of  primroses  that  you  pulled  on  Candle- 
mas day;  but  what  think  you  of  me  who  heard  a 

78 


LETTEES  AND  LETTEE  WEITING 

nightingale  on  New  Year's  day?  Perhaps  I  am  the 
only  man  in  England  who  can  boast  of  such  good  for- 
tune; good,  indeed;  for  if  it  was  at  all  an  omen,  it 
could  not  be  an  unfavorable  one.  The  winter,  how- 
ever, is  now  making  himself  amends,  and  seems  the 
more  peevish  for  having  been  encroached  on  at  so 
undue  a  season.  Nothing  less  than  a  large  slice  out 
of  the  spring  will  satisfy  him. 

Lady  Hesketh  left  us  yesterday.  She  intended,  in- 
deed, to  have  left  us  four  days  sooner;  but  in  the 
evening  before  the  day  fixed  for  her  departure,  snow 
enough  fell  to  occasion  just  so  much  delay  of  it. 

Forget  not  your  promised  visit. 

W.  C. 


JAMES    RUSSELL   LOWELL   TO    CHARLES    ELIOT   NORTON 

CAMBRIDGE,  2d  day  of  Holy  Week, 

May,  1859. 

.  .  .  I  miss  you  like  thunder — ga  va  sans  dire 
— especially  in  this  George-Herbert's-Sunday  kind  of 
weather,  which  is  cool  and  calm  and  bright  as  can  be 
thought.  I  fancy  you  listening  to  the  bobolinks 
among  the  fresh  grass  on  the  lawn.  I  heard  them 
yesterday  on  my  way  to  the  printing-office  for  the 
first  time  this  spring.  That  liquid  tinkle  of  theirs 
is  the  true  fountain  of  youth,  if  one  can  only  drink 
it  with  the  right  ears,  and  I  always  date  the  New 
Year  from  the  day  of  my  first  draught.  Messer  Eob- 
erto  di  Lincoln,  with  his  summer  alb  over  his  shoul- 
79 


LETTERS  AND  LETTEE  WRITING 

ders,  is  the  chorister  for  the  bridals  of  earth  and  sky 
.  .  .  The  robin  sings  matins  and  vespers  some- 
what conscientiously,  but  Bob  squanders  song  like  a 
poet.  .  .  .  Yesterday,  I  indulged  in  my  favorite 
pastime  of  sitting  on  a  fence  and  basking.  The 
landscape  was  perfect.  .  .  .  Sweet  Auburn  pink 
with  new-leaved  oaks.  Corey's  Hill  green  in  the 
hayfields,  and  brown  with  squares  of  freshly  turned 
furrows  (versus,  the  Farmer's  poem),  the  orchards 
rosy  with  apple-blooms,  the  flowering  grasses  just 
darkening  the  meadows  to  set  off  the  gold  of  the 
buttercups,  here  and  there  pale  splashes  of  Houstonia 
dropt  from  the  Galaxy,  and  the  river  all  blue  and 
gold.  This  is  Cambridge,  sir!  What  is  Newport  to 
this?  But  I  am  bobolinking,  instead  of  attending 
to  business. 

From  Letters  of  James  Russell  Lowell. 

Copyrighted,  1893,  by  Harper  &  Bros. 


EMERSON  TO  CARLYLE 

(Extract) 

CONCORD,  14th  May,  1846. 
Dear  Friend: — 

.  .  .  I,  too,  have  a  new  plaything,  the  best  1 
ever  had — a  wood  lot.  Last  fall  I  bought  a  piece  of 
more  than  forty  acres  on  the  border  of  a  little  lake, 
half  a  mile  wide  and  more,  called  Walden  Pond — a 
place  to  which  my  feet  have  for  years  been  accus- 
tomed to  bring  me  once  or  twice  a  week  at  all  sea- 

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LETTEKS  AND  LETTEK  WETTING 

sons.  My  lot,  to  be  sure,  is  on  the  farther  side  of  the 
water,  not  so  familiar  to  me  as  the  nearer  shore. 
Some  of  the  wood  is  an  old  growth,  but  most  of  it 
has  been  cut  off  within  twenty  years  and  is  growing 
thrifty.  In  these  May  days,  when  maples,  poplars, 
oaks,  birches,  walnut  and  pine  are  in  their  spring 
glory,  I  go  thither  every  afternoon  and  cut  with  my 
hatchet  an  Indian  path  through  the  thicket  all  along 
the  bold  shore,  and  open  the  finest  pictures.  My  two 
little  girls  know  the  road  now,  though  it  is  nearly 
two  miles  from  my  house,  and  find  their  way  to  the 
spring  at  the  foot  of  a  pine  grove. 

At  a  good  distance  in  from  the  shore  the  land 
rises  to  a  rocky  head  perhaps  sixty  feet  above  the 
water.  Thereon  I  think  to  place  a  tent;  perhaps  it 
will  have  two  stories  and  be  a  pretty  tower,  looking 
out  to  Monadnock  and  other  New  Hampshire  moun- 
tains. There  I  hope  to  go  with  book  and  pen  when 
good  hours  come.  .  .  .  What  have  we  to  do  with 
old  age?  Our  existence  looks  to  me  more  than  ever 
initial.  We  have  come  to  see  the  ground  and  look 
up  materials  and  tools.  The  men  who  have  any 
positive  quality  are  a  flying  advance  party  for  rec- 
onnoitering.  We  shall  yet  have  a  right  to  work,  as 
kings  and  competitors. 

With  ever  affectionate  remembrance  to  your  wife, 
Your  friend, 

K.  W.  EMERSON. 

By  special  permission  of  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co. 

From     The    Correspondence    of    Emerson    and    Carlyle, 
1834-1872. 

81 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 


N.  P.  WILLIS  TO  THE  UNKNOWN  PURCHASER  AND  NEXT 
OCCUPANT   OF   GLENMARY 

Sir:— 

In  selling  you  the  dew  and  the  sunshine  ordained 
to  fall  hereafter  on  this  bright  spot  of  earth — the 
waters  on  their  way  to  this  sparkling  brook — the 
tints  mixed  for  the  meadow,  and  the  songs  bidden 
to  be  sung  in  coming  summers  by  the  feathery 
builders  in  Glenmary,  I  know  not  whether  to  won- 
der more  at  the  omnipotence  of  money,  or  at  my 
own  impertinent  audacity  toward  Nature.  How 
can  you  buy  the  right  to  exclude  at  will  every  other 
creature  made  in  God's  image  from  sitting  by  this 
brook,  treading  on  that  carpet  of  flowers,  or  lying 
listening  to  the  birds  in  the  shade  of  these  glorious 
trees — how  I  can  sell  it  to  you,  is  a  mystery  not  un- 
derstood by  the  Indian,  and  dark,  I  must  say,  to 
me.  .  .  . 

First  of  all,  sir,  let  me  plead  for  the  old  trees  of 
Glenmary !  Ah !  those  friendly  old  trees'!  the  col- 
lege stands  belted  in  with  them,  a  thousand  visible 
from  the  door,  and  of  stems  and  branches  worthy  of 
the  great  valley  of  the  Susquehannah.  For  how 
much  music  played  without  thanks  am  I  indebted 
to  those  half -organs  of  changing  tone?  for  how 
many  whisperings  of  thought  breathed  like  oracles 
into  my  ear?  for  how  many  new  shapes  of  beauty 
molded  in  the  leaves  by  the  wind?  for  how  much 
companionship,  solace  and  welcome?  Steadfast  and 
constant  is  the  countenance  of  such  friends.  God 

82 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

be  praised  for  their  staid  welcome  and  sweet  fidelity ! 
If  I  love  them  better  than  some  things  human,  it 
is  no  fault  of  ambitiousness  in  trees.  They  stand 
where  they  did.  .  ^ .  .  One  may  be  glad  of  dumb 
friendships. 

Spare  those  old  trees,  gentle  sir. 

N.  P.  WILLIS. 


A  PICTURE  OF  TENNYSON,   FROM   EDWARD  FITZGERALD 
TO  FANNY  KEMBLE 

WOODBRIDGE,  Sept.  21,  1876. 
Dear  Mrs.  Kemble: — 

Have  your  American  Woods  begun  to  hang  out 
their  Purple  and  Gold  yet?  on  this  Day  of  Equinox. 
Some  of  ours  begin  to  look  rusty,  after  Summer 
Drought,  but  have  not  turned  yellow  yet.  I  was 
talking  of  this  to  a  Heroine  of  mine  who  lives  near 
here,  but  visits  the  Highlands  of  Scotland,  which 
she  loves  better  than  Suffolk — and  she  said  of  those 
Highland  Trees,  "0,  they  give  themselves  no  dying 
Airs,  but  turn  Orange  in  a  Day,  and  are  swept  off  in 
a  Whirlwind,  and  Winter  is  come."  .  .  .  And 
now — who  should  send  in  his  card  to  me  last  week— 
but  the  old  Poet  [Tennyson]  himself —  he  and  his 
elder  Son  Hallam  passing  through  Woodbridge  from 
a  Tour  in  Norfolk.  "Dear  old  Fitz,"  ran  the  Card  in 
Pencil,  "We  are  passing  thro'."  I  had  not  seen  him 
for  twenty  years — he  looked  much  the  same,  except 
for  his  fallen  Locks:  and  what  really  surprised  me 
83 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

was,  that  we  fell  at  once  into  the  old  Humor,  as  if 
we  had  only  been  parted  twenty  Days  instead  of 
so  many  years.  .  .  .  He  stayed  two  Days,  and 
we  went  over  the  same  old  ground  of  Debate,  told 
some  of  the  old  Stories,  and  all  was  well.  I  suppose 
I  may  never  see  him  again;  and  so  I  suppose  we 
both  thought  as  the  Rail  carried  him  off:  and  each 
returned  to  his  ways  as  if  scarcely  diverted  from 
them.  ...  I  liked  Hallam  much;  unaffected, 
unpretending — no  slang,  none  of  Young  England's 
nonchalance — speaking  of  his  Father  as  "Papa"  and 
tending  him  with  great  Care,  Love,  and  Discretion. 
Mrs.  A.  T.  is  much  out  of  health,  and  scarce  leaves 
Home,  I  think.  .  .  .  Ever  yours, 

E.  F.  G. 

3.     Of  Scenes 

LADY  MARY  WORTLEY  MONTAGU  TO  THE  COUNTESS  OF 
MAR 

VIENNA,  Sept.  8,  0.  S.  1716. 
I  am  now,  my  dear  sister,  safely  arrived  at  Vienna 
.  .  .  We  traveled  by  water  from  Ratisbon  a 
journey  perfectly  agreeable,  down  the  Danube,  in 
one  of  those  little  vessels  that  they  very  properly 
call  wooden  houses,  having  in  them  almost  all  the 
conveniences  of  a  palace,  stoves  in  the  chambers, 
kitchens,  etc.  They  are  rowed  by  twelve  men  each, 
and  move  with  an  incredible  swiftness,  so  that  in  the 
same  day  you  have  the  pleasure  of  a  vast  variety  of 
84 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

prospects ;  and  within  a  few  hours'  space  of  time  one 
has  the  different  diversion  of  seeing  a  populous  city 
adorned  with  magnificent  palaces  and  the  most  ro- 
mantic solitudes.  .  .  .  This  town,  which  has  the 
honor  of  being  the  "emperor's  residence,  did  not  at 
all  answer  my  idea  of  it.  ...  The  streets  are 
very  close,  and  so  narrow  one  can  not  observe  the  fine 
fronts  of  the  palaces,  though  many  of  them  very 
well  deserve  observation,  being  truly  magnificent,  all 
built  of  fine  white  stone.  .  .  .  They  are  com- 
monly a  suite  of  eight  or  ten  large  rooms,  all  inlaid, 
the  doors  and  windows  richly  carved  and  gilt,  and 
furniture  such  as  is  seldom  seen  in  the  palaces  of 
sovereign  princes  in  other  countries, — they  hang  the 
finest  tapestry  of  Brussels,  prodigious  large  looking- 
glasses  in  silver  frames,  fine  Japan  tables,  beds, 
chairs,  canopies  and  window-curtains  of  the  richest 
Genoa  damask  or  velvet,  almost  covered  with  gold 
lace  or  embroidery,  the  whole  made  gay  by  pictures 
and  vast  jars  of  Japan  china,  and  almost  in  every 
room  large  lusters  of  rock  crystal.  .  .  . 

LADY   MARY    WORTLEY    MONTAGU    TO    THE    LADY   

ADRIANOPLE,  April  1,  0.  S.  1717. 

I  am  now  into  a  new  world,  where  everything  I  xYK' 
see  appears  to  me  a  change  of  scene  .  .  .  but 
I  must  not  omit  what  I  saw  remarkable  at  Sophia, 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  towns  in  the  Turkish  Em- 
pire, and  famous  for  its  hot  baths.  ...  I 
stopped  here  one  day  to  see  them.  Desiring  to  go 
85 


LETTERS  AND  LETTEE  WHITING 

incognito,  I  hired  a  Turkish  coach.  ...  In  one 
of  these  covered  wagons  I  went  to  the  bagnio  about 
ten  o'clock.  It  was  already  full  of  women.  .  .  . 
I  was  in  my  traveling  habit,  which  is  a  riding  dress, 
and  certainly  appeared  very  extraordinary  to  them. 
Yet  there  was  not  one  of  them  that  showed  the  least 
surprise  or  impertinent  curiosity,  but  received  me 
with  all  the  obliging  civility  possible.  I  know  no 
European  court  where  the  ladies  would  have  behaved 
themselves  in  so  polite  a  manner  to  a  stranger. 
.  .  .  There  were  many  amongst  them  as  exactly 
proportioned  as  ever  any  goddess  was  drawn  by  the 
pencil  of  Guido  or  Titian. 

SHELLEY  TO  T.  L.  PEACOCK 

NAPLES,  December  22,  1818. 
My  dear  P: — 

.  .  .  Since  last  I  wrote  to  you,  I  have  seen 
the  ruins  of  Rome,  the  Vatican,  St.  Peter's,  and  all 
the  miracles  of  ancient  and  modern  art  contained 
in  that  majestic  city.  The  impression  of  it  exceeds 
anything  I  have  ever  experienced  in  my  travels. 
.  .  .  We  visited  the  Forum  and  the  ruins  of  the 
Colosseum  every  day.  The  Colosseum  is  unlike  any 
work  of  human  hands  I  ever  saw  before.  It  is  of 
enormous  height  and  circuit,  and  the  arches,  built 
of  massive  stones,  are  piled  on  one  another,  and  jut 
into  the  blue  air,  shattered  into  the  forms  of  over- 
hanging rocks.  It  has  been  changed  by  time  into 
the  image  of  an  amphitheater  of  rocky  hills  over- 

86 


LETTERS  AND  LETTEE  WRITING 

grown  by  wild  olive,  the  myrtle,  and  the  fig-tree, 
and  threaded  by  little  paths,  which  wind  among  its 
ruined  stairs  and  immeasurable  galleries:  the  copse- 
wood  overshadows  you  as  you  wander  through  its 
labyrinths,  and  the  wild  weeds  of  this  climate  of 
flowers  bloom  under  your  feet.  The  arena  is  covered 
with  grass,  and  pierces  like  the  skirts  of  a  natural 
plain,  the  chasms  of  the  broken  arches  around.  But 
a  small  part  of  the  exterior  circumference  remains — 
it  is  exquisitely  light  and  beautiful  and  the  effect 
of  the  perfection  of  its  architecture,  adorned  with 
ranges  of  Corinthian  pilasters,  supporting  a  bold 
cornice  is  such  as  to  diminish  the  effect  of  its  great- 
ness. The  interior  is  all  ruin.  I  can  scarcely  be- 
lieve that  when  encrusted  with  Dorian  marble  and 
ornamented  by  columns  of  Egyptian  granite,  its 
effect  could  have  been  so  sublime  and  so  impressive 
as  in  its  present  state.  It  is  open  to  the  sky,  and 
it  was  the  clear  and  sunny  weather  of  the  end  of 
November  in  this  climate  when  we  visited  it  day 
after  day. 

SHELLEY  TO  T.  L.  PEACOCK 

(His  Impressions  of  the  Alps) 
(Extract) 

.     .     .     From    Servoz    three    leagues    remain    to 

Chamouni, — Mont  Blanc  was  before  us — the  Alps, 

with  their  innumerable  glaciers  on  high  all  round, 

closing  in  the  complicated  windings  of  the  single 

87 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

vale — forests  inexpressibly  beautiful,  but  majestic 
in  their  beauty — intermingled  beech  and  pine,  and 
oak,  overshadowed  our  road,  or  receded,  whilst  lawns 
of  such  verdure  as  I  have  never  seen  before,  occupied 
these  openings,  and  gradually  became  darker  in 
their  recesses.  Mont  Blanc  was  before  us,  but  it  was 
covered  with  cloud ;  its  base,  furrowed  with  dreadful 
gaps,  was  seen  above.  Pinnacles  of  snow  intolerably 
bright,  part  of  the  chain  connected  with  Mont  Blanc, 
shone  through  the  clouds  at  intervals  on  high.  I 
never  knew — I  never  imagined — what  mountains 
were  before.  The  immensity  of  these  aerial  summits, 
excited,  when  they  suddenly  burst  upon  the  sight,  a 
sentiment  of  ecstatic  wonder,  not  unallied  to  mad- 
ness. And  remember  this  was  all  one  scene,  it  all 
pressed  home  to  our  regard  and  our  imagination. 
Though  it  embraced  a  vast  extent  of  space,  the 
snowy  pyramids  which  shot  into  the  bright  blue  sky 
seemed  to  overhang  our  path;  the  ravine,  clothed 
with  gigantic  pines,  and  black  with  its  depth  below, 
so  deep  that  the  very  roaring  of  the  untamable 
Arve,  which  rolled  through  it,  could  not  be  heard 
above — all  was  as  much  our  own,  as  if  we  had  been 
the  creators  of  such  impressions  in  the  minds  of 
others  as  now  occupied  our  own.  Nature  was  the 
poet,  whose  harmony  held  our  spirit  more  breathless 
than  that  of  the  divinest.  .  .  . 

As  we  entered  the  valley  of  Chamouni,  clouds 
hung  upon  the  mountains  at  the  distance  perhaps  of 
6000  feet  from  the  earth,  but  so  as  effectually  to 
conceal,  not  only  Mont  Blanc,  but  the  other  aiguilles, 

88 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

as  they  call  them  here,  attached  and  subordinate  to 
it.  We  were  traveling  along  the  valley,  when  sud- 
denly we  heard  a  sound  as  of  the  burst  of  smothered 
thunder  rolling  above;  yet  there  was  something  in 
the  sound,  that  toTd  us  it  could  not  be  thunder.  Our 
guide  hastily  pointed  out  to  us  a  part  of  the  moun- 
tain opposite,  from  whence  the  sound  came.  It  was 
an  avalanche.  We  saw  the  smoke  of  its  path  among 
the  rocks,  and  continued  to  hear  at  intervals  the 
bursting  of  its  fall.  It  fell  on  the  bed  of  a  torrent, 
which  it  displaced,  and  presently  we  saw  its  tawny- 
colored  waters  also  spread  themselves  over  the  ravine, 
which  was  their  couch. 


4-     Of  Character 
FROM  DAVID  STARR  JORDAN,  UPON  AGASSIZ 

STANFORD  UNIVERSITY,  CAL., 

December  13,  1901. 
Dear  friends: — 

In  response  to  Miss 's  request  I  take  pleasure 

in  giving  a  few  recollections  of  mine  of  the  great 
teacher  Agassiz,  which  I  have  used  elsewhere. 

He  was  above  all  else  a  teacher.  His  work  in 
America  was  that  of  a  teacher  of  science, — of  science 
in  the  broadest  sense  as  the  orderly  arrangement 
of  the  results  of  all  human  experience.  He  would 
teach  men  to  know,  not  simply  to  remember  or  to 
guess.  He  believed  that  men  in  all  walks  of  life 
89 


LETTERS  AND  LETTEE  WRITING 

would  be  more  useful  and  more  successful  through 
the  thorough  development  of  the  powers  of  observa- 
tion and  judgment.  He  believed  that  the  sense  of 
reality  should  be  the  central  axis  of  human  life. 
He  would  have  the  student  trained  through  contact 
with  real  things,  not  merely  exercised  in  the  recol- 
lection of  the  book  descriptions  of  things.  "If  you 
study  Nature  in  books/'  he  said,  "when  you  go  out 
of  doors  you  can  not  find  her." 

The  boundless  enthusiasm  which  surrounded 
Agassiz  like  an  atmosphere,  and  which  sometimes 
gave  the  appearance  of  great  achievement  to  the 
commonest  things,  was  never  lacking.  He  was  al- 
ways an  optimist,  and  his  strength  lay  largely  in  his 
realization  of  the  value  of  the  present  moment.  He 
was  a  living  illustration  of  the  aphorism  of  Thoreau, 
that  "there  is  no  hope  for  you  unless  the  bit  of  sod 
under  your  feet  is  the  sweetest  in  this  world — in  any 
world."  The  thing  he  had  in  hand  was  the  thing 
worth  doing,  and  the  men  about  him  were  the  men 
worth  helping. 

He  was  always  picturesque  in  his  words  and  his 
work.  He  delighted  in  the  love  and  approbation  of 
his  students  and  his  friends,  and  the  influence  of  his 
personality  sometimes  gave  his  opinions  weight  be- 
yond the  value  of  the  investigations  on  which  they 
were  based.  With  no  other  investigator  have  the 
work  and  the  man  been  so  identified  as  with  Agassiz. 
No  other  of  the  great  workers  has  been  equally  great 
as  a  teacher.  His  greatest  work  in  science  was  his 


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LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

influence  on  otHer  men.     He  was  a  constant  stimulus 
and  inspiration. 

Very  truly  yours, 

DAVID  STARR  JORDAN. 


GEORGE   W.   CURTIS   TO   JOHN   J.   PINKERTON 

(Lincoln) 

NORTH  SHORE,  RICHMOND  Co.,  N.  Y. 

July  9,  '61. 
My  dear  Pirikerton : — 

I  have  been  long  meaning  to  say  how  d'ye  do,  and 
now  your  note  is  most  welcome. 

I  have  two  brothers  at  the  war,  and  my  wife  has 
one.  My  neighbor  and  friend,  Theodore  Winthrop, 
died  at  Great  Bethel,  as  he  had  lived.  Many  other 
warm  friends  are  in  arms  and  I  hold  myself  ready 
when  the  call  comes.  I  envy  no  other  age.  I  be- 
lieve with  all  my  heart  in  the  cause,  and  in  Abe  Lin- 
coln. His  message  is  the  most  truly  American  mes- 
sage ever  delivered.  Think  upon  what  a  millennial 
year  we  have  fallen  when  the  president  of  the  United 
States  declares  officially  that  this  government  is 
founded  upon  the  rights  of  man !  Wonderfully 
acute,  simple,  sagacious,  and  of  antique  honesty !  I 
can  forgive  the  jokes  and  the  big  hands,  and  the  ina- 
bility to  make  bows.  Some  of  us  who  doubted  were 
wrong.  This  people  is  not  rotten.  What  the  young 
men  dream,  the  old  men  shall  see. 
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LETTEES  AND  LETTEE  WEITING 

My  wife  sends  her  kind  remembrance.     We  have 
a  little  girl,  born  on  the  day  of  the  Proclamation. 
Yours  always, 

GrEORGE  WlLLIAM  CURTIS. 

By  permission  of  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co. 
From  Gary's  Life  of  G.  W.  Curtis. 


FROM  THE  REV.  JENKIN  LLOYD  JONES 

(Lincoln) 

CHICAGO,  ILL.,  February  20,  1902. 
My  dear  Friend: — 

Last  night  I  was  at  the  University  Congregational 
Church  at  a  Washington-Lincoln  memorial  meeting. 
I  thought  of  you  and  must  ease  my  heart  by  telling 
you  of  the  meeting.  I  spoke  of  the  "sad  humorist 
of  the  Sangamon."  What  a  message  there  is  to  the 
young  people  of  our  day  in  that  story.  Lincoln,  the 
debater,  the  orator,  the  great  president,  the  most 
benignant  commander,  is  becoming  better  and  better 
known.  Our  children  will  know  him  better  than  we 
do,  but  the  Lincoln  of  the  backwoods,  the  child  of 
the  pioneer,  the  humble,  lonely  student,  is  passed 
away  because  his  life  is  fading  away.  The  boys  and 
girls  in  modern  school-houses,  overwhelmed  with  the 
new  education,  can  little  realize  how  it  was  once 
possible  for  bare-footed  children,  crowded  into  log 
school-houses,  sitting  on  puncheon  benches,  with 
faces  to  the  wall,  to  revel  in  their  stories  of  Demos- 
thenes and  Cicero,  rejoice  in  bits  of  Greek  and  Latin 

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LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

eloquence,  court  familiarity  with  the  heroes  and  he- 
roines of  Shakespeare,  dream  of  future  culture  and 
public  usefulness ;  but  such  was  possible  to  thousands 
upon  thousands  of  children  belonging  to  the  pioneer 
life  of  the  middle'  West  in  the  forties  and  fifties. 

In  those  days  the  pioneer  was  not  the  adventurer 
cresting  the  forward  wave  of  emigration  with  drunk- 
enness, gambling  and  profanity,  as  was  the  case 
with  the  settlements  of  our  farther  West  when  the 
settler  was  anticipated  by  the  railroad  and  the 
saloon;  but  those  emigrants  were  home-seekers;  they 
did  not  seek  to  make  fortunes,  but  to  make  a  living. 
The  Bible  and  hymn-book  were  their  consolation 
and  the  groves  were  indeed  their  first  temples.  To 
this  life  did  Lincoln  belong,  out  of  it  did  he  come, 
and  to  it  his  genius  was  related.  Just  now  my 
heart  has  warmed  again  to  the  "sad  humorist  of  the 
Sangamon,"  in  whom  sadness  was  so  allied  to  laugh- 
ter. Always  cordially  yours, 

JENKIN  LLOYD  JONES. 


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LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WETTING 


XL   LETTERS  IN  CONNECTION  WITH  LIT- 
ERATURE STUDY 

1.     Tennyson 

HENRY    VAN"    DYKE    TO    THE    JUNIOR    CLASS    IN    THE 
SHORTRIDGE  HIGH  SCHOOL  AT  INDIANAPOLIS 

AVALON,  PRINCETON,  NEW  JERSEY. 
M y  dear  friends : — 

Your  very  kind  letters  have  been  forwarded  to  me 

by  Miss ,  and  have  interested  me  greatly.    Your 

teacher  evidently  believes  that  English  Literature 
is  a  living  subject,  and  is  not  to  be  studied  by 
"laboratory  methods,"  but  by  vital  methods.  This 
seems  to  me  the  right  way.  Great  authors  are  not 
algebraic  symbols;  they  are  real  men.  Great  books 
are  not  chemical  products  to  be  analyzed:  they  are 
messages  from  life  to  life ;  they  are  reflections  of  the 
human  heart ;  they  are  works  of  art,  to  be  valued  for 
the  joy  they  give  and  the  meaning  they  impart. 

I  am  glad  that  you  think  and  speak  of  Tennyson's 
characters  as  living  persons,  so  that  you  have  your 
favorites  among  them,  and  even  have  disputes  and 
friendly  quarrels  about  the  comparative  merits  of 
your  heroes  and  heroines.  [I  knew  two  schoolmates 
who  had  a  regular  fight  about  David  Copperfield  and 
Henry  Esmond.  We  did  not  "fight  to  a  finish,"  so 
it  did  us  no  harm;  but  I  still  think  Esmond  by  far 
the  finer  character.] 

94 


LETTEKS  AND  LETTEE  WKITING 

Tennyson  is  rightly  considered  the  most  perfect 
artist  among  Nineteenth  Century  English  Poets. 
But  this  is  not  merely  because  his  verse  is  rich  and 
musical:  it  is  because  his  work  is  also  true,  even  in 
the  smallest  details.  You  remember  that  beautiful 
bit  in  Maud: 

"Her  feet  have  touch' 'd  the  meadows 
And  left  the  daisies  rosy"? 

If  an  American  poet  had  written  that  about  an 
American  girl,  it  would  have  been  sentimental  non- 
sense. Why?  Because  the  American  daisy  is  all 
white  and  yellow.  There  is  nothing  rosy  about  it. 
But  the  English  daisy  is  really  pink  on  the  under 
side  of  its  petals.  So  when  Maud  crossed  the  field 
she  really  left  her  foot-prints  marked  in  rose-color 
in  the  upturned  flowers  where  she  had  trodden. 

If  you  are  going  to  write  about  anything,  the  first 
thing  to  do  is  to  see  it  as  it  really  is ;  then  you  may 
let  your  imagination  illuminate  it,  and  interpret  the 
bare  fact  in 

"The  light  that  never  was  on  sea  or  land, — 
The  consecration  and  the  poet's  dream." 

It  will  not  be  possible  to  answer  each  of  your  let- 
ters separately;  and  to  pick  out  one  for  a  response, 
would  hardly  be  fair  to  the  other  one  hundred  and 
twenty-four.  But  I  would  like  to  tell  you  all  a 
little  story  about  Tennyson,  and  leave  you  to  say 

95 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

whether  you  think  it  throws  any  light  on  his  charac- 
ter. 

When  I  was  staying  at  his  house  in  1892,  (a  few 
weeks  before  the  last  illness,)  he  promised  to  write 
an  autograph  for  his  portrait  for  me.  "What  shall 
I  write?"  he  asked.  Thinking  of  his  good  life  and 
his  great  fame,  I  suggested  a  line  from  the  Welling- 
ton Ode: 

"The  path  of  duty  is  the  way  to  glory." 

He  wrote  it,  and  then  turning  over  the  sheet  he  said, 
"Now  I  will  write  what  I  prefer/'  This  was  his 
choice : 

"Love  took  up  the  Harp  of  Life  and  smote  on  all  the 

chords  with  might, 
Smote  the  chord  of  Self,  that,  trembling,  past  in 

music  out  of  sight." 

Will  you  give  my  sincere  regards  to  your  teacher, 
and  my  thanks  to  her  for  the  pleasure  she  has  given 
me  ?  I  think,  if  you  are  wise,  you  will  give  her  also 
your  own  thanks  for  the  work  she  has  done  to  make 
your  studies  interesting  and  your  interests  studious. 
I  am  glad  if  any  of  you  like  my  books.  They  are 
all  about  the  same  subject, — the  only  one  that  seems 
to  me  worth  writing  about, — Life.  And  this  is  what 
I  hope  you  all  will  have,  (in  the  real  sense,)  and  use 
it  for  the  highest  ends,  and  enjoy  it  for  ever. 

Sincerely  yours, 

HENRY  VAST  DYKE. 
Jan.  25,  1902. 

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LETTEKS  AND  LETTEE  WEITING 

2.    Shakespeare 

HAMILTON"   WRIGHT   MABIE  TO  A  HIGH   SCHOOL  GIRL 


The  Outlook,  287  Fourth  Avenue,  New  York. 
My  dear  Friend: — 

Shakespeare's  women  are  often  adorable,  some- 
times detestable,  occasionally  terrible;  but  always 
consistent  and  significant.  Even  when  they  seem  to 
lack  individuality  they  heighten  the  individual 
quality  of  some  other  character.  To  understand 
Volumnia  I  think  one  must  not  only  study  of  her 
bearing  and  words,  but  must  look  at  the  reflection  of 
her  character  in  the  mind  of  her  son.  The  key  of  a 
man's  nature  is  sometimes  found  in  his  influence 
upon  others.  Volumnia  is  not  elaborately  sketched ; 
hers  is  not  one  of  the  highly  finished  portraits;  she 
does  not  stand  out  as  a  sharply  defined  type  of 
Eoman  motherhood.  She  has  the  Eoman  ideals  of 
her  son,  she  gives  him  the  Eoman  pride,  but  she  has 
a  more  complex  nature.  To  her  heroic  spirit  she 
unites  a  clear  mind  and  a  hold  upon  realities,  which 
keep  her  pride  in  check  and  give  it  proportion.  Her 
son  has  her  pride  but  lacks  her  intellect  and  flings 
himself  with  blind  obstinacy  against  the  facts  of  his 
situation.  She  would  urge  his  pride  to  the  height 
of  a  great  achievement,  but  when  the  height  of  its 
legitimate  unfolding  is  reached  she  urges  control, 
acceptance,  recognition  of  other  wills.  In  the  su- 
97 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

preme  moment  the  son  yields  to  the  mother  because 
temperamentally  they  are  in  perfect  sympathy, 
while  in  intellect  she  is  the  stronger.  He  is  a  blind 
force,  she  is  an  intelligent  power.  She  is  as  proud 
as  he ;  she  has  "a  brain  that  leads  (her)  use  of  anger 
to  better  vantage." 

Yours  sincerely, 

HAMILTON  W.  MABIE. 
April  20,  1902. 

XII.    LETTERS  OF  SYMPATHY 

L.  M.  CHILD  TO  MRS.  S.  B.  SHAW 

WAYLAND,  1876. 

Whittier,  in  one  of  his  letters  to  me,  expresses 
himself  about  your  beloved  Eobert  thus:  "I  know 
of  nothing  nobler  or  grander  than  the  heroic  self- 
sacrifice  of  young  Colonel  Shaw.  The  only  regiment 
I  ever  looked  upon  during  the  war  was  the  54th,  on 
its  departure  for  the  South.  I  shall  never  forget 
the  scene.  As  he  rode  at  the  head  of  his  troops,  the 
very  flower  of  grace  and  chivalry,  he  seemed  to  me 
beautiful  and  awful  as  an  angel  of  God  come  down 
to  lead  the  host  of  freedom  to  victory.  I  have  longed 
to  speak  the  emotions  of  that  hour,  but  I  dared  not, 
lest  I  should  indirectly  give  a  new  impulse  to  war. 
For  his  parents  I  feel  that  reverence  which  belongs 
to  the  highest  manifestations  of  devotion  to  duty 
and  forgetfulness  of  self,  in  view  of  the  mighty  in- 


LETTERS  AND  LETTEE  WRITING 

terests  of  humanity.  There  must  be  a  noble  pride 
in  their  great  sorrow.  I  am  sure  they  would  not 
exchange  their  dead  son  for  any  living  one." 

By  permission  of  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co. 

From  Letters  ofLydia  Maria  Child,  by  Whittier. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  TO  A  MOTHER  WHO  HAD  LOST  FIVE 
SONS  IN   THE   CIVIL  WAR 

Nov.  21  '64. 
Mrs.  Bixby,  Boston. 

Dear  Madam: — 

I  have  been  shown  in  the  files  of  the  War  depart- 
ment a  statement  of  the  Adjutant-General  of  Massa- 
chusetts that  you  are  the  mother  of  five  sons  who 
have  died  gloriously  on  the  field  of  battle.  I  feel 
how  weak  and  fruitless  must  be  any  words  of  mine 
which  should  attempt  to  beguile  you  from  the  grief 
of  a  loss  so  overwhelming.  But  I  can  not  refrain 
from  tendering  to  you  the  consolation  that  may  be 
found  in  the  thanks  of  the  Republic  they  died  to 
save.  I  pray  that  our  Heavenly  Father  may  as- 
suage the  anguish  of  your  bereavement,  and  leave 
you  only  the  cherished  memory  of  the  loved  and  lost, 
and  the  solemn  pride  that  must  be  yours  to  have 
laid  so  costly  a  sacrifice  upon  the  altar  of  freedom. 
Yours  very  sincerely  and  respectfully, 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

By  permission  of  the  Century  Company. 


99 


LETTEKS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 


XIII.   LETTERS  OF  FAREWELL 

G.  W.  CURTIS  TO  J.  R.   LOWELL,  JUST  APPOINTED 
MINISTER  TO  SPAIN 

ASHFIELD,  July  9,  1877. 
My  dear  James: — 

I  must  not  let  you  go  without  a  word  of  love  and 
farewell,  although  I  have  meant  to  write  you  a  let- 
ter. I  told  Charles  that  on  every  ground,  except 
that  you  go  away,  I  am  delighted  that  you  are  going. 
With  me  the  case  is  very  different.  I  happen  to  be 
just  in  the  position  where  I  can  be  of  infinitely 
greater  service  to  the  good  old  cause,  and  to  the  ad- 
ministration that  is  meaning  and  trying  to  advance 
it,  than  I  could  possibly  be  abroad.  Nothing  has 
done  this  administration  more  good,  nor  rejoiced  so 
many  hearts  as  your  appointment.  You  will  be 
blown  on  to  your  castles  in  Spain  by  a  whirlwind  of 
benedictions. 

Affectionately  yours, 

G.  W.  C. 

By  permission  of  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co. 
From  Gary's  Life  of  Q.  W.  Curtis. 


100 


LETTERS  AND  LETTEE  WEITING 


JOHN  BROWN  S  LAST  LETTER  TO  HIS  FAMILY 

CHARLESTOWN  PRISON,  JEFFERSON  Co.,  VA., 

-  November  30,  1859. 

My  Dear  Beloved  Wife,  Sons  and  Daughters,  Every 

One: — 

As  I  now  begin,  probably  what  is  the  last  letter 
I  shall  ever  write  to  any  of  you,  I  conclude  to  write 
to  all  at  the  same  time.  ...  I  am  waiting  the 
hour  of  my  public  murder  with  great  composure  of 
mind  and  cheerfulness;  feeling  the  strong  assurance 
that  in  no  other  possible  way  could  I  be  used  to  so 
much  advantage  to  the  cause  of  God  and  humanity, 
and  that  nothing  that  either  I  or  my  family  have 
sacrificed  or  suffered  will  be  lost.  The  reflection 
that  a  wise  and  merciful  as  well  as  a  just  and  holy 
God  rules  not  only  the  affairs  of  this  world  but  of  all 
worlds,  is  a  rock  to  set  our  feet  upon  under  all  cir- 
cumstances. I  have  now  no  doubt  but  that  our  seem- 
ing disaster  will  ultimately  result  in  a  most  glorious 
success.  So,  my  dear  shattered  and  broken  family, 
be  of  good  cheer,  and  believe  and  trust  in  God  with 
all  your  heart  and  with  all  your  soul;  for  He  doeth 
all  things  well.  ...  To  God  and  the  work  of 
his  grace  I  commend  you  all. 

Your  affectionate  husband  and  father, 

JOHN  BROWN. 

By  permission  of  Little,  Brown  &  Co. 


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LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 


ROBERT    GOULD    SHAW'S    GOOD-BY .  TO    HIS    FATHER,    IN 
EIGHTEEN  HUNDRED  AND  SIXTY-ONE 

STATEN  ISLAND,  April  18,  1861. 
My  Dear  Father: — 

When  you  get  home  you  will  hear  why  I  am  not 
here  to  receive  you.  Badly  as  I  feel  at  going  before 
you  come,  it  seems  the  only  way,  unless  I  give  it  up 
altogether,  which  you  could  not  wish  any  more  than  I. 
You  shall  hear  from  me  as  often  as  I  possibly  can 
write,  if  only  a  few  words  at  a  time.  We  go  to-mor- 
row afternoon,  and  hope  to  be  in  Washington  the  fol- 
lowing day.  I  want  very  much  to  go ;  and  with  me,  as 
with  most  of  the  others,  the  only  hard  part  is  leaving 
our  friends.  God  bless  you  all,  dear  father.  Excuse 
the  shortness  of  this  farewell  note. 

[ROBERT  SHAW.] 


XIV.  SPECIAL  LETTERS  FOR  ARBOR  DAY 

GEORGE  WILLIAM  CURTIS,  VICE-CHANCELLOR  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK,  TO  W. 

H.  BENEDICT,  ELMIRA,  N.  Y.,  FOR  ARBOR  DAY, 

MAY  THIRD,  EIGHTEEN  HUNDRED  AND 

EIGHTY-NINE 

WEST  NEW  BRIGHTON,  STATEN  ISLAND, 

April  17,  1889. 
Dear  Sir: — 

I  am  very  glad  that  you  propose  fitting  observance 
of  Arbor  Day,  which  I  think  may  be  easily  made  one 
102 


'•'31TY        : 

LETTERS  VAJSTD  LETTER  WRITING 

of  the  most  interesting  of  our  holidays.  There  is 
probably  not  one  of  the  pupils  in  your  school  who  has 
not  a  fondness  for  pet  animals,  for  horses,  dogs,  cats, 
squirrels,  rabbits,  and  the  charm  lies  largely  in  its  life 
and  its  dependence*upon  its  master.  Arbor  Day  will 
enlarge  this  friendly  relation,  so  as  to  include  trees. 
They  too  are  living  and  for  their  proper  growth  and 
development  they  will  depend  largely  upon  the  care 
and  intelligence  of  the  boys  and  girls  who  are  in- 
terested in  them. 

This  interest  will  be  fostered  as  in  the  care  of  the 
pet  animals  by  the  individual  relation  between  the 
trees  and  those  who  plant  them.  It  will  be  stimulated 
by  the  names  to  be  given  to  the  trees,  and  by  the  de- 
sire to  honor  distinguished  men  and  women  and  by 
carefully  tending  the  trees  that  bear  their  names. 
All  this  will  gradually  lead  inevitably  to  special 
knowledge  of  the  structure,  character,  growth  and  uses 
of  trees,  to  enjoyment  of  the  allusions  to  them  in  lit- 
erature, and  their  association  with  historical  events, 
like  the  Charter  Oak  in  Hartford,  and  Sir  Philip 
Sidney's  oak  at  Penshurst,  which  was  planted  at  his 
birth  and  which  Ben  Jonson  and  Edmund  Waller 
commemorated,  and  the  Abbot's  oak,  and  William  the 
Conqueror's  oak  at  Windsor  Park. 

With  this  will  come  a  keener  interest  in  the  signifi- 
cance of  trees  and  plants  in  national  usages,  and  in 
popular  belief  and  proverbs,  "There's  rosemary,  that's 
remembrance."  To  be  clad  in  mourning  was  to  wear 
the  Willow.  Old  Fuller,  the  English  worthy,  calls 
the  willow  a  sad  tree,  and  the  forsaken  lover  sang, 
103 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

"All  around  my  hat  I  wear  a  green  willow."  The 
Jews  in  captivity  hung  their  harps  upon  the  willows, 
and  to  describe  a  melancholy  landscape  Sir  Walter 
Scott  in  The  Lay  of  the  Last  Minstrel  sings  of  "along 
the  wild  and  willowed  shore."  It  was  upon  the  Beech 
tree  that  lovers,  long  before  America  was  discovered, 
carved  the  names  of  their  sweethearts,  and  it  was 
upon  the  tree  of  which  Amiens  sung  that  Shakes- 
peare's Orlando  hung  his  verses  to  Rosalind.  It 
was  the  trees  of  Ardennes  that  wound  their  leaves  over 
the  soldiers  marching  to  Waterloo,  "Grieving,  if 
aught  inanimate  e'er  grieves  over  the  unreturning 
brave."  Thus  in  every  way  trees  are  enwrought  with 
literature  as  with  art. 

"The  groves  were  God's  first  temples,"  and  Gothic 
architecture  reproduces  the  long  drawn  aisles  and 
fretted  vault  of  the  pine  forest. 

As  the  student  advances  into  Latin  and  Greek,  he 
will  find  trees  springing  up  all  around  him  in  the 
form  of  allusions  to  the  chaplets,  wreaths  and  crowns 
that  were  woven  from  their  leaves,  although  they 
do  not  appear  in  the  classic  poets  as  figures  of  beauty 
in  the  landscape.  The  conscious  enjoyment  of  nat- 
ural beauty  is  a  modern  sentiment,  but  it  is  from  the 
association  of  Greek  and  Roman  usage  that  "bays" 
and  "laurel"  derive  their  modern  significance.  Apol- 
lo's tree,  the  bay,  furnished  the  wreaths  for  Roman 
victors,  at  their  triumphs.  The  Greeks  crowned  with 
laurel  the  victors  in  the  Pythian  game  and  with  a 
wreath  of  wild  olives  the  Olympic  victor. 

All  such  facts,  familiar  to  school-boys,  will  acquire 
104 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

a  kind  of  interest  which  they  never  had  before  when 
those  boys  establish  personal  relation  with  trees  and 
shrubs  by  planting  them  and  giving  them  names. 
When  they  watch  to  see  how  Bryant  and  Longfellow 
are  growing ;  whether  Abraham  Lincoln  wants  water, 
or  Benjamin  Franklin  is  drying  up,  whether  Asa 
Gray  puts  out  his  leaves  as  early  as  last  year,  and 
whether  Maria  Mitchell  and  Abigail  Adams  and 
Dorothea  Dix  hold  in  their  ample  and  embowering 
arms  as  many  singing  birds  as  usual,  they  will  dis- 
cover that  a  tree  may  be  as  interesting  as  the  squirrel 
that  skims  along  its  trunk,  or  the  thrush  that  calls 
from  its  leafy  covert  like  a  muezzin  from  a  minaret. 

It  is  pleasant  to  remember  on  Arbor  day  that 
Bryant,  our  oldest  American  poet  and  the  father  of 
our  American  literature,  is  especially  the  poet  of  trees. 

He  grew  up  among  the  solitary  hills  of  western 
Massachusetts  when  the  woods  were  his  nursery  and 
the  trees  his  earliest  comrades.  The  solemnity  of  the 
forest  breathes  through  all  his  verse,  and  he  had  al- 
ways, even  in  the  city,  a  grave  rustic  air  as  of  a  man 
who  heard  the  bubbling  brooks  and  to  whom  the  trees 
told  their  secrets.  His  poems  will  be  so  naturally 
read  on  Arbor  Day  that  it  will  keep  his  memory 
green,  and  the  poet  of  the  trees  will  become  the  famil- 
iar friend  of  American  boys  and  girls  who,  by  tender 
nurture  of  the  trees,  will  have  learned  to  say  with 
him: 

"Nay,  doubt  we  not  that  under  the  rough  rind, 

In  the  green  veins  of  their  growth  of  earth,, 

105 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

There  dwells  a  nature  that  receives  delight 
From  all  the  gentle  processes  of  life. 
And  shrinks  from  loss  of  being/' 

Bryant  liked  to  think  himself  as  associated  with 
trees,  and  modestly  forecasts  his  name  blended  with 
trees  and  the  fruit  so  precious  to  all  us  American 
girls  and  boys,  or  men  or  women ! 

"Who  planted  this  old  apple  tree?' 
The  children  of  that  distant  day 
Thus  to  some  aged  man  shall  say; 
And,  gazing  on  its  mossy  stem,, 
The  gray-haired  man  shall  answer  them, 
'A  poet  of  the  land  was  he, 
Born  in  the  rude  but  good  old  times; 

'Tis  said  he  made  some  quaint  old  rhymes, 
On  planting  the  apple  tree' '' 

With  every  good  wish  for  the  boys  and  girls  who 
will  plant  the  trees,  and  for  the  trees  which  they  will 
plant,  I  am  Very  truly  yours, 

GEORGE  WILLIAM  CURTIS. 

From  Arbor  Day  Manual. 

Copyrighted  by  C.  W.  Bardeen. 


106 


LETTERS  AND  LETTEE  WRITING 

FROM  DONALD  G.   MITCHELL 

("Ik  Marvel,"  an  American  Author) 

-        EDGEWOOD,  April  27,  1889. 
My  dear  Sir: — 

Your  favor  came  duly  and  I  feel  very  much  hon- 
ored by  the  association  of  my  name — in  even  so  slight 
a  degree — with  your  proposed  good  work  of  tree- 
planting,  and  suppose  that  I  owe  the  nattering  atten- 
tion of  which  you  speak,  to  my  often-declared  allegi- 
ance to  country  pursuits,  and  a  steady  faith  in  the 
good  that  comes  from  every-day  familiarity  with  the 
flowers  and  the  trees  and  the  sunshine. 

I'm  not  sure  but  I  love  trees  even  better  than 
books; — love  them  young  and  love  them  old;  and 
those  misshapen  and  of  foul  growth,  I  love  to  cut  and 
burn  (wishing  I  could  do  the  same  for  many  books  I 
encounter) . 

Please  commend  me  to  your  young  bands  of  tree- 
lovers,  and  believe  me,  Yours  very  truly, 

DONALD  G.  MITCHELL. 

From  Arlor  Day  Manual. 

Copyrighted  by  C.  W.  Bardeen. 

FROM  JAMES  RUSSELL  LOWELL 

DEERFOOT  FARM,  S'OUTHBOROUGH, 

March  28,  1888. 
Dear  Sir: — 

I  can  think  of  no  more  pleasant  way  of  being  re- 
membered than  by  the  planting  of  a  tree.    Like  what- 
107 


LETTEES  AND  LETTEE  WEITING 

ever  things  are  perennially  good,  it  will  be  growing 
while  we  are  sleeping,  and  will  survive  us  to  make 
others  happier.  Birds  will  rest  in  it  and  fly  thence 
with  messages  of  good  cheer.  I  should  be  glad  to 
think  that  any  word  or  deed  of  mine  could  be  such  a 
perennial  presence  of  beauty,  or  show  so  benign  a 
destiny.  I  beg  you  and  your  pupils  to  accept  my 
hearty  good  wishes.  Faithfully  yours, 

JAMES  EUSSELL  LOWELL. 

From  Arbor  Day  Manual. 

Copyrighted  by  C.  W.  Bardeen. 


FRANCIS    PARKMAN,   AMERICAN   HISTORIAN,   TO   W.    H. 
BENEDICT 

BOSTON,  April  26th,  1889. 
Dear  Sir: — 

I  am  much  obliged  to  the  pupils  of  the  schools  un- 
der your  direction  for  their  intention  to  dedicate  a 
tree  to  me  on  Arbor  Day.  I  could  wish  for  no  more 
pleasant  form  of  commemoration,  for  a  tree  is  the 
most  charming  of  monuments. 

I  hope  your  Arbor  Day  will  be  a  great  success.  We 
once  had  on  this  continent  such  a  superfluity  of  trees 
that  our  forefathers  almost  learned  to  regard  them  as 
enemies,  rather  than  as  friends.  If  the  present  gen- 
eration does  not  quickly  learn  to  take  a  different  view, 
the  country  will  have  cause  to  rue  it.  If  the  state 
and  national  governments  do  not  preserve  with  care 
the  forests  about  the  sources  of  the  great  streams,  in- 
cluding your  admirable  Adirondack  country,  the  re- 
108 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

gions  watered  by  them  will  be  the  victims  of  alternate 
floods  and  droughts.  It  is  not  only  that  the  beauty  of 
the  landscape  will  suffer,  but  many  industrial  inter- 
ests will  be  sorely  injured,  and  the  more  this  is  im- 
pressed on  the  rninSs  of  the  rising  generation,  the  bet- 
ter it  will  be  for  them  and  their  successors. 
Yours  respectfully, 

FRANCIS  PARKMAN. 

From  Ar&or  Day  Manual. 

Copyrighted  by  C.  W.  Bardeen. 


MRS.   M.   R.   MOORE  TO  W.   C.   BRYANT 

SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL.,  July  17th. 

On  a  recent  visit  to  the  Mammoth  Grove  in  this 
state,  as  I  entered  the  forest  proper  of  the  so-called 
'big  trees/  my  first  feeling  was  one  of  awe,  of  wor- 
ship, if  you  will,  and  involuntarily  there  rose  in  my 
mind  these  words :  'The  groves  were  God's  first  tem- 
ples;' and  never  did  they  seem  so  appropriate  as 
when,  standing  in  the  midst  of  this  patriarchal  forest, 
the  mind  attempted  to  trace  their  history  far  back  on 
the  stream  of  Time.  Three  thousand  years  of  life! 

As  we  passed  through  the  grove  we  saw  that  many 
trees  bore  names  of  which  all  Americans  are  proud — 
Webster,  Clay,  Everett,  Starr  King — Grant,  Sherman, 
Sheridan,  our  lamented  Lincoln,  if  not  as  brethren; 
Richard  Cob  den  and  John  Bright — statesmen,  war- 
riors, scholars,  and  men,  whose  names  are  household 
words.  But,  as  I  remarked  that  as  yet  no  poet  had 
been  so  honored,  a  feeling  of  joy  rose  in  me  that  per- 
109 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

haps  the  proud  privilege  might  be  mine  of  christening 
one  of  these  magnificent  growths.  I  made  inquiries 
of  the  owner  of  the  grove  in  regard  to  it,  and  was  in- 
formed that  all  that  was  necessary  was  to  send  a  mar- 
ble tablet  appropriately  lettered,  and  it  should  be 
placed  on  the  tree  I  might  select.  Accordingly,  I  se- 
lected the  second  tree  at  the  right  hand  of  the  path 
very  near  the  entrance  of  the  grove,  a  very  old  tree, 
one  of  the  largest,  and  one  that  has  not  only  braved 
the  storms  of  centuries,  but  which  has  felt  the  scourge 
of  the  savage  fire.  It  is  a  splendid  specimen  of  a 
green  old  age,  still  strong,  still  fresh,  the  birds  yet 
singing  in  its  lofty  top,  a  fitting  emblem  of  the  poet 
of  the  forest,  Bryant. 

By  permission  of  D.  Appleton  &  Co. 

From  Life  of  William  Cullen  Bryant. 

WILLIAM    CULLEN    BRYANT    TO    MRS.    M.    R.     MOORE, 

IN  ACKNOWLEDGMENT   OF  A  TREE   NAMED  FOR 

HIM  IN  MAMMOTH  GROVE,  CALIFORNIA — 

THE  MAMMOTH  "BRYANT"  TREE 

ROSLYN,  August  30th,  1886. 
My  dear  Madam : — 

I  thank  you  for  the  great  honor  you  have  done  me 
in  giving  my  name  to  one  of  the  venerable  trees  in 
the  Mammoth  Grove  of  California.  I  hope  the  tree 
which  you  found  vigorous  and  flourishing  will  be 
none  the  worse  for  it. 

The  portion  of  the  bark  which  you  were  so  kind 
to  send  me,  as  well  as  the  cone  and  the  seeds,  reached 
110 


LETTERS  AND  LETTEE  WRITING 

me  safely  through  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Brown.  The 
seeds  shall  be  committed  to  the  ground,  in  the  hope 
that  they  will  sprout  in  due  season ;  the  cone  and  the 
bark  are  placed  among  my  curiosities. 

I  do  not  much  wonder  that,  in  naming  these  trees, 
political  and  military  celebrities  should  be  first 
thought  of.  The  events  of  the  last  four  years  have 
kept  the  public  attention  fixed  upon  the  actors  in  our 
political  stage,  and  the  gallant  deeds  of  our  com- 
manders in  war  have,  for  the  moment  at  least,  thrown 
all  other  kinds  of  fame  into  the  shade.  That  I  should 
be  the  first  of  our  poets  whose  name  is  inscribed  on 
one  of  these  giants  of  the  forest  is  an  honor  which,  I 
fear,  if  it  had  been  left  to  the  arbitration  of  public 
opinion  instead  of  the  partiality  of  an  individual, 
would  not  have  been  awarded  to  me.  Perhaps,  how- 
ever, the  length  of  time  during  which,  I  have  been 
before  the  public  as  an  author — more  than  half  a 
century — had  its  weight  with  you  in  connecting  my 
name  with  one  of  the  most  remarkable  productions  of 
our  country. 

And  really  it  is  a  most  magnificent  region  that 
you  inhabit;  such  a  genial  and  charming  climate, 
scenery  amazingly  beautiful,  and  vegetation  of  won- 
derful richness  and  vigor!  In  certain  respects  your 
climate  resembles,  in  others  surpasses,  that  of  the 
same  latitude  of  the  Old  World.  May  you  find  in 
that  region,  when  your  social  relations  shall  have 
taken  a  permanent  form,  a  nobler  Europe,  freer,  more 
virtuous,  and  more  happy. 


Ill 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

Thanking  you  for  the  kind  wishes  expressed  at  the 
close  of  your  letter,  etc. 

(WILLIAM  CULLED  BRYANT.) 

By  permission  of  D.  Appleton  &  Co. 

From  Life  of  William  Cullen  Bryant. 


XV.   FROM  THE  JOURNAL  OF  REV.  WIL- 
LIAM EMERSON 

(Written  on  April  19,  1775) 

This  morning  between  one  and  two  o'clock  we 
were  alarmed  by  the  ringing  of  the  church  bell,  and, 
upon  examination,  found  that  the  troops  to  the 
number  of  800  had  stolen  their  march  from  Bos- 
ton in  boats  and  barges  from  the  bottom  of  the 
Common  over  to  a  point  in  Cambridge  near  to  In- 
man's  Farm,  and  were  at  Lexington  Meeting  House 
half  an  hour  before  sunrise,  where  they  had  fired  upon 
a  body  of  our  men,  and,  as  we  afterward  heard,  had 
killed  several.  This  intelligence  was  brought  to  us 
at  first  by  Dr.  Sam'l  Prescott,  who  narrowly  escaped 
the  guard  that  were  sent  before  on  horses  purposely 
to  prevent  all  posts  and  messengers  from  giving  us 
timely  information.  He,  by  the  help  of  a  very  fleet 
horse  crossing  several  walls  and  fences,  arrived  at 
Concord  at  the  time  above  mentioned,  when  several 
posts  were  immediately  dispatched,  that,  returning, 
confirmed  the  presence  of  the  regular  army  at  Lexing- 
ton, and  that  they  were  on  their  way  to  Concord. 
Upon  this  a  number  of  our  Minute  Men  belonging  to 
112 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

this  town,  and  Acton  and  Lincoln  with  several  others 
that  were  in  readiness,  marched  out  to  meet  them. 

While  the  alarm  company  were  preparing  to  meet 
them  in  the  town,  Captain  Minot,  who  commanded 
them,  thought  it  prTfper  to  take  possession  of  the  hill 
above  the  Meeting  House  as  the  most  advantageous  sit- 
uation. No  sooner  had  we  gained  it  than  we  were  met 
by  the  company  that  were  sent  out  to  meet  the  troops, 
who  informed  us  they  were  just  upon  us  and  that  we 
must  retreat,  as  their  number  was  more  than  thribble 
to  ours.  We  then  retreated  from  the  hill  near  Liberty 
Pole  and  took  a  new  post  back  of  the  town  upon  a 
rising  eminence,  where  we  formed  into  two  battalions 
and  waited  the  arrival  of  the  enemy.  Scarcely  had 
we  formed  before  we  saw  the  British  troops  at  the 
distance  of  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  glittering  in  arms, 
advancing  toward  us  with  the  greatest  celerity.  Some 
were  for  making  a  stand  notwithstanding  the  superi- 
ority of  their  numbers,  but  others  more  prudent 
thought  best  to  retreat  till  our  strength  should  be 
equal  to  the  enemy  by  recruits  from  neighboring 
towns  who  were  continually  coming  in  to  our  assist- 
ance. Accordingly  we  retreated  over  the  bridge,  when 
the  troops  came  into  the  town,  set  fire  to  several  car- 
riages for  the  artillery,  destroyed  sixty  barrels  of 
flour,  rifled  several  houses,  took  possession  of  the 
Town  House,  destroyed  500  pounds  of  ball,  set  a 
guard  of  100  men  at  the  North  Bridge  and  sent  up 
a  party  to  the  house  of  Colonel  Barrett,  where  they 
were  in  expectation  of  finding  a  quantity  of  warlike 
stores;  but  these  were  happily  secured  just  before 
113 


LETTEES  AND  LETTEK  WRITING 

the  arrival  by  transfer  into  the  woods  and  other  by- 
places.  In  the  meantime,  the  guard  set  by  the  en- 
emy to  secure  the  pass  at  the  North  Bridge  were 
alarmed  by  the  approach  of  our  people,  who  had  re- 
treated, as  mentioned  before,  and  were  now  advancing 
with  special  orders  not  to  fire  upon  the  troops  unless 
fired  upon.  These  orders  were  so  punctually  ob- 
served that  we  received  the  fire  of  the  enemy  in  three 
several  and  separate  discharges  of  their  pieces  before 
it  was  returned  by  our  commanding  officer.  The  fir- 
ing then  soon  became  general  for  several  minutes,  in 
which  skirmish  two  were  killed  on  each  side  and 
several  of  the  enemy  wounded.  It  may  here  be  ob- 
served, by  the  way,  that  we  were  the  more  careful  to 
prevent  beginning  a  rupture  with  the  king's  troops 
as  we  were  then  uncertain  what  had  happened  at 
Lexington,  and  knew  not  that  they  had  begun  the 
quarrel  there  by  first  firing  upon  our  party  and  kill- 
ing eight  men  upon  the  spot.  The  British  troops 
soon  quitted  their  post  at  the  Bridge  and  retreated  in 
great  disorder  and  confusion  to  the  main  body  who 
were  soon  upon  the  march  to  meet  them.  For  half 
an  hour  the  enemy,  by  their  marches  and  counter- 
marches discovered  great  fickleness  and  inconstancy 
of  mind,  sometimes  advancing,  sometimes  returning 
to  their  former  posts,  till  at  length  they  quitted  the 
town  and  retreated  by  the  way  they  came.  In  the 
meantime  a  party  of  our  men  (150)  took  the  back 
way  through  the  great  fields  into  the  East  Quarter 
and  had  placed  themselves  to  advantage,  lying  in 
ambush  behind  walls,  fences  and  buildings  ready  to 
fire  upon  the  enemy  on  their  retreat. 
114 


III. 


ANNOTATED  LIST  OF  LETTERS,  JOURNALS' 
AND   AUTOBIOGRAPHIES 

1.    Letters  and  Journals. 

ADAMS,  J.  AND  MRS.  ABIGAIL — Familiar  Letters.  1774-82. 
Written  during  the  Revolution  by  President  John 
Adams  and  his  wife.  Valuable  for  insight  into  the 
social  life  of  the  United  States  of  that  time. 

AGASSIZ,  Louis — Life  and  Correspondence.  A  record  of  a 
broad-minded  man.  See  letter  to  Emerson,  Vol.  II, 
page  619,  and  Emerson's  reply  to  Agassiz,  Vol.  II, 
page  621.  For  expository  letters,  see  letters  to  Dar- 
win, Lyell,  Dana,  and  others.  Note  his  account  of 
his  college  life  at  Heidelberg  at  the  age  of  nineteen. 
See  letters  to  his  father  on  his  decision  to  be  a  natu- 
ralist. (Argumentation.) 

ALCOTT,  LOUISA  MAY — Life  and  Letters,  by  Mrs.  Edna  D. 
Cheney.  These  letters  show  the  heroic  struggle 
with  poverty,  made  by  a  young  girl.  For  some  of 
Miss  Alcott's  hitherto  unpublished  letters,  see  Ladies' 
Home  Journal,  beginning  September,  1901.  There  is 
a  facsimile  letter  in  the  October  number. 

ALLSTON,  WASHINGTON — Letters  and  Life,  by  J.  B.  Flagg. 
A  glimpse  into  the  life  of  one  of  the  most  eminent 
of  early  American  artists. 

AMIEL,  HENRI  FREDERIC — Journal;  translated  with  intro- 
duction by  Mrs.  Humphry  Ward.  "Not  a  volume  of 
memoirs,  but  the  confidences  of  a  solitary  thinker. 
115 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

.  .  .  Philosophy,  science,  letters,  art, — he  has 
penetrated  the  spirit  of  them  all." — Mrs.  Humphry 
Ward. 

ANDERSEN,  HANS — Story  of  My  Life.  His  letters  to  young 
people  have  the  same  airy  fancy  and  charm  that  his 
fairy  tales  have.  See  the  one  to  a  naughty  boy,  p. 
427,  and  to  Marie,  p.  428. 

ARBLAY,  MME.  FRANCES  (BURNEY)  D' — Diary  and  Letters 
with  Notes,  by  W.  C.  Ward.  "As  a  diarist  Miss  Bur- 
ney  is  with  Pepys  and  Evelyn,  as  a  letter-writer  with 
Walpole  and  Chesterfield.  And  unlike  all  these,  ex- 
cept Horace,  she  is  a  novelist  as  well." — George 
Saintsbury. 

ARNOLD,  MATTHEW — Letters.  1848-1882.  2  vols.  "His 
friendly,  chatty,  confidential  letters  combine  the 
simplicity  of  a  child  with  all  the  mental  and  imag- 
inative resources  of  a  scholar,  a  philosopher,  and  a 
man  of  the  world." — Herbert  Paul. 

AUDUBON,  JOHN  JAMES — Audubon  and  His  Journals,  by 
M.  R.  Audubon,  with  Notes  by  Elliott  Coues.  This 
book  is  said  to  be  an  important  addition  to  the  his- 
torical and  zoological  literature  of  America. 

BASHKIRTSEFF,  MARIE — Journal  of  a  young  artist,  remark- 
able for  enthusiastic  expression  and  realistic  detail. 

BISMARCK,  OTTO  EDW.  LEOPOLD — Letters  to  his  Wife,  his 
Sister,  and  Others.  See  also  his  Love-Letters. 

BOOTH,  EDWIN — Letters,  pp.  31-38.  Letters  to  his  daugh- 
ter; they  show  the  home  life  of  an  actor,  and  the 
tenderness  of  a  father. 

BRYANT,  W.  C. — Letters  of  Travel.  Serious  but  entertain- 
ing; they  illuminate  geography.  See  ones  upon 
Southern  States.  Letter  XI,  on  the  interior  of 
South  Carolina. 

BROOKS,  PHILLIPS — Letters  of  Travel.    Those  to  Gertie 

in  A  Year  of  Travel  in  Europe  and  India  make 

geography  a  living  thing.     See  the  ones  written  to 

Gertie  from  Kandy  in  Ceylon;  to  Gertie  from  Jey- 

116 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WETTING 

pore;  his  visit  to  Tennyson,  and  his  picture  of  the 
streets  of  Cairo,  and  of  Athens,  and  of  Rome. 

BROWN,  THOS.  EDW. — Letters;  edited  by  S.  T.  Irwin. 
2  vols.  "A  delightful  book  of  letters,  by  a  scholar,  a 
humorist,  a  man  full  of  noble  qualities."  See  index 
to  Vol.  II  for  letters  of  comment  upon  writings  of 
contemporary  and  ancient  authors;  upon  the  man's 
life  and  character;  upon  his  walks  and  tours  and 
studies.  See  pp.  145-147;  see  his  comment  on  The 
Talisman;  his  pictures  on  his  bedroom  walls;  let- 
ter to  E.  M.  Oakley,  p.  247,  appendix. 

BROWN,  JOHN — Life  and  Letters,  by  Frank  Sanborn. 
His  letters  show  the  man's  religious  zeal. 

BROWNING,  ROBERT  AND  MRS.  ELIZABETH  (BARRETT) — Let- 
ters, 1845-1846.  2  vols.  "For  solid  value  as  a  contri- 
bution to  psychology,  as  a  revelation  of  the  inmost 
thoughts  and  impulses  of  two  noble  natures,  for  the 
wholesomeness  of  their  display  of  simplicity,  unsel- 
fishness and  goodness  of  heart,  interpreted  in  the 
finest  literary  medium,  we  do  not,  for  the  moment, 
recollect  anything  parallel  to  these  letters  of  R.  B. 
and  E.  B.  B." — Saturday  Review. 

BROWNING,  ELIZABETH  BARRETT — Letters;  edited  by  Fred- 
eric G.  Kenyon.  2  vols.  To  read  these  letters  is  to 
live  for  the  time  with  a  sensitive,  imaginative,  bril- 
liant woman;  it  is  to  share  her  appreciation  of  peo- 
ple and  books  and  things  and  all  the  while  to  ad- 
mire her  vitality  and  grace  of  statement. 

BURNS,  ROBERT — Poems,  Songs  and  Letters;  edited  by 
Alexander  Smith.  The  letters  in  this  volume  con- 
tain all  the  moods  of  feeling  found  in  Burns's 
poems;  they  are  filled  with  love  of  nature,  love  of 
freedom,  and  love  for  his  fellow  beings. 

BYRON,  LORD — Letters.  Byron's  letters  record  his  moods 
in  a  most  remarkable  way;  they  have  in  them  an 
abandon  that  lends  to  them  a  great  charm  for  many 
readers. 

117 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

CAELYLE  AND  EMERSON — Correspondence.  2  vols.  This 
correspondence  pictures  two  great  men  clasping 
hands  across  the  Atlantic:  Carlyle  on  his  lonely 
moor  thundering  at  the  abuses  of  his  age;  Emerson, 
in  lonely  Concord,  waiting  for  the  word  of  the 
spirit.  Every  letter  in  the  book  is  interesting. 

CARLYLE,  JANE  W. — Letters  and  Memorials  of  Jane 
Welsh,  by  J.  A.  Froude.  Vol.  I,  page  369.  Letter  to 
Nero,  her  dog — amusing.  Her  visit  to  Father  Math- 
ew,  p.  163,  shows  her  enthusiasm.  To  her  uncle,  p. 
148;  to  T.  Carlyle,  pp.  158,  161,  197.  Vol.  II,  page 
154.  All  of  Jane  W.  Carlyle's  letters  are  fascinating 
and  have  a  witchery  about  them.  (Suitable  for 
High  School  students.) 

CARLYLE,  T. — Early  Letters.  They  give  insight  into  the 
heart  of  the  man  in  his  home  and  in  his  early  strug- 
gles. Like  his  other  prose  they  have  titanic  force. 

CHESTERFIELD,  LORD — Letters  to  his  son.  Advice  to  young 
men  upon  the  externals  of  life;  directions  as  to  how 
one  should  deport  himself  in  society.  They  have 
been  reprinted  for  the  agreeable  form  in  which  they 
are  expressed. 

CHILD,  LYDIA  MARIA — Letters;  edited  by  Whittier.  A 
collection  of  most  delightful  letters  written  in  a 
most  graceful  style.  They  give  a  fine  picture  of  the 
anti-slavery  movement.  The  letters  about  Col.  Rob- 
ert G.  Shaw  are  of  especial  interest. 

CICERO,  M.  T.  (106  B.  C.) — Letters  (Trans.)  "Cicero 
wrote  letters  before  daybreak,  and  at  meal-time,  and 
while  taking  exercise,  and  on  his  journeys.  Whole 
volumes  of  them  have  perished,  but  we  have  some 
eight  hundred  left,  and  they  are  among  the  most  in- 
teresting remains  of  all  antiquity." — Library  News- 
Letter. 

COWPER,  WILLIAM — Letters.  See  pp.  36-37.  On  p.  38  a 
budget  of  home  news  more  cheerful  than  many  of 
Cowper's  letters — even  entertaining  to  young  peo- 
118 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

pie,  giving  an  insight  into  the  mind  of  one  of  Eng- 
land's most  sensitive  poets;  read  p.  43,  pp.  65-66,  on 
seeing  the  ocean.  "For  a  combination  of  delightful 
qualities,  Cowper's  letters  have  no  rivals." 

CURTIS,  GEORGE  WILLIAM — By  Edward  Gary,  in  Amer- 
ican Men  of  Letters.  The  letters  of  this  book  have 
the  grace  shown  in  Prue  and  If  and  the  earnest- 
ness of  the  civil  service  reformer.  The  following 
letters  give  an  interesting  view  of  the  man:  Let- 
ters to  his  father  about  Nile  Notes  of  a  Howadji; 
letters  on  pp.  84-85;  pp.  86-89  show  his  humor;  let- 
ters upon  Civil  War,  pp.  130-155;  letter  of  marriage 
congratulations,  p.  166;  the  National  Convention  at 
Baltimore,  p.  178;  note  to  Lowell  upon  Harvard 
Commemoration  Ode,  p.  192;  upon  receipt  of  The 
Cathedral  from  Lowell,  p.  211;  to  Lowell  just  ap- 
pointed minister  to  Spain,  p.  255;  about  his  resigna- 
tion as  editor  of  Harper's  Weekly,  p.  275;  letter  on 
the  presidential  canvass  of  1884,  p.  289. 

DARWIN,  C. — Life  and  Letters.  2  vols.  Vol.  I,  Darwin's 
letters  from  the  Ship  Beagle.  A  good  book  to  inter- 
est pupils  in  science  and  to  lead  them  to  the  book, 
What  Darwin  Saw  on  the  Ship  Beagle. 

DE  QUINCEY,  THOMAS — Memorials;  being  letters  and 
records;  edited  by  Tapp.  2  vols.  De  Quincey's  let- 
ters, like  his  essays,  furnish  examples  of  finished 
writing. 

DICKENS,  CHARLES — Letters.  Show  the  man  in  his  hu- 
mor and  in  his  business  aspects.  See  letter  to  George 
Eliot  herein  given  as  typical  of  his  insight  and  fine 
appreciation. 

DICKINSON,  EMILY — Letters.  1845-46.  2  vols.  Her  let- 
ters are  full  of  exalted  thought  expressed  in  her 
own  characteristic  manner  and  energy. 

Dix,  DOROTHEA — Life,  by  Francis  Tiffany.     An  account 
of  an  heroic  life;   her  letter  to  Mr.  Howe,  p.  114, 
shows  her  power  to  carry  a  point. 
119 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

DONNE,  JOHN — Life  and  Letters;  edited  by  Edmund 
Gosse.  2  vols.  The  letters  of  this  famous  Jacobean 
poet  and  metaphysician  have  still  a  quaint  grace 
and  charm,  and  were  regarded  in  his  own  day  as 
models  of  epistolary  deportment.  The  elaborate  let- 
ters of  consolation  to  his  mother,  Vol.  II,  p.  88,  and 
to  Lady  Kingsmell,  Vol.  II,  p.  210,  are  characteristic. 

ELIOT,  GEORGE  (Pseud.) — Life,  by  J.  W.  Cross.  The  let- 
ters in  these  volumes,  like  the  writings  of  George 
Eliot,  are  full  of  valuable  comment  and  philosophy; 
they  tell  her  life  history. 

EMERSON.  R.  W. — For  Mr.  Emerson's  best  letters,  see 
Cabot's  biography;  Emerson  in  Concord,  by  his  son, 
Dr.  Edward  Emerson;  and  also  a  charming  letter 
by  Mrs.  Emerson  in  Sanborn's  Familiar  Letters  of 
Thoreau;  and  the  Emerson-Carlyle  correspondence. 
All  of  Emerson's  letters  have  the  lofty  strain;  and 
one  feels  with  Mrs.  Carlyle  that  he  never  ceases  to 
be  a  "sky  messenger." 

EVELYN,  JOHN — Diary  and  Correspondence  (1641-1706). 
4  vols.  Valuable  for  historical  information  and  for 
a  picture  of  the  social  customs  of  the  time.  The 
court  of  Charles  II  is  vividly  described. 

EWING,  JULIANA  HORATIO — Letters.  See  p.  124  for  an  in- 
teresting account  of  how  she  papered  the  room. 

FARRAGUT,  DAVID  GLASGOW — Story  of  his  life,  by  Loyall 
Farragut,  from  his  letters  and  journal.  An  inter- 
esting story  of  an  interesting  life. 

FITZGERALD,  EDWARD — Letters.  2  vols.  1823-83.  Very 
delightful  letters  of  an  English  lover  of  literature, 
and  full  of  reminiscences  of  the  author's  intercourse 
with  the  cultured  circles  of  his  time.  The  tone  of 
the  scholar  pervades  the  entire  collection.  See  let- 
ters to  C.  E.  Norton. 

FRANKLIN,  BENJAMIN — By  Jared  Sparks.  10  vols.  The 
letters  of  Franklin  in  these  volumes  are  mines  of 
wealth;  they  show  the  broad-mindedness  of  the  man 
120 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

in  his  love,  for  scientific  investigation,  for  politics, 
and  for  questions  of  general  culture. 

GOETHE  AND  CARLYLE  —  Correspondence,  edited  by 
Charles  Eliot  Norton.  Carlyle  was  twenty-nine 
years  old  and  Goethe  seventy-five.  It  was  Carlyle's 
finest  day-dream*  to  see  Goethe  before  he  died,  and 
this  correspondence  shows  the  ardent  reverence  of 
a  younger  for  an  older  and  a  wiser  man.  Goethe 
writes  out  of  the  wisdom  of  his  years  upon  the  lit- 
erature and  thought  of  the  nineteenth  century.  See 
Goethe  to  Carlyle,  pp.  133-137;  Carlyle  to  Goethe, 
pp.  152-159.  German  students  will  be  interested  in 
these  letters.  See  also  the  correspondence  between 
Schiller  and  Goethe. 

GORDON,  GEN.  CHARLES  GEORGE — The  Story  of,  by  A.  E. 
Hake.  Letters  show  the  life  of  a  man  who  sup- 
pressed the  Tai-ping  rebellion  in  China,  and  gave 
himself  to  the  extermination  of  the  slave  trade  in 
the  Sudan. 

GRAY,  ASA — Letters.  Valuable  for  giving  insight  into 
the  busy  life  of  a  scientist. 

GRAY,  THOMAS — Letters;  edited  by  D.  C.  Torey.  2  vols. 
"If  Gray  ceased  to  write  poetry,  let  us  be  thankful 
that  he  continued  to  write  letters.  .  .  .  They 
are  mines  of  acute  observation  and  sharp-edged 
criticism  upon  style.  Cowper  said,  'I  once  thought 
Swift's  letters  the  best  that  could  be  written;  but  I 
like  Gray's  better.' " — J.  R.  Lowell. 

GUERIN,  MAURICE  DE — Journal.  (Trans.)  With  a  bio- 
graphical and  literary  memoir  by  Sainte-Beuve. 
A  book  showing  a  rare  appreciation  of  nature;  Mat- 
thew Arnold  attributes  to  its  author  "a  sense  of 
what  there  is  adorable  and  secret  in  nature."  Some 
of  the  especially  interesting  passages  from  his  jour- 
nal are:  P.  67,  about  Brittany  and  the  snow;  p. 
68,  of  primroses;  p.  76,  for  28th  of  March;  p.  91, 
for  the  28th  of  April;  pp.  92-93,  1st  of  May;  p.  95, 
121 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

gladness  of  nature;  p.  105,  the  14th  of  August;  p. 
117,  for  Dec.  8th,  the  ocean;  see  pp.  130-131,  pp.  170- 
171,  influence  of  nature.  The  journal  of  Eugenie  de 
Gue"rin  is  a  companion  piece  to  that  of  Maurice. 

HAWTHORNE,  NATHANIEL — Memories,  by  Rose  Hawthorne 
Lathrop.  A  volume  containing  a  view  of  Haw- 
thorne's inner  life  as  man  and  husband.  There  are 
letters  from  Maria  White,  Curtis,  Alcott  and  others. 

HAWTHORNE,  NATHANIEL — Hawthorne  and  his  Wife. 
2  vols.  See  Vol.  I,  p.  329,  about  Una;  bits  from  pp. 
272-280,  326,  show  the  depth  of  his  feeling.  A  most 
exquisite  picture  of  family  life. 

HERSCHEL,  CAROLINE  L. — Memoir  and  Correspondence. 
She  shared  the  scientific  work  of  her  brother,  Sir 
William  Herschel,  and  their  names  are  known  to- 
gether. 

HOLLAND,  J.  G.  To  the  Jones's — Under  the  surname 
"Jones"  and  a  given  name  symbolic  of  certain  types 
of  character,  Holland  has  found  excuse  to  give  ad- 
vice upon  money  making  and  saving  to  Stephen 
Gerard  Jones — upon  musical  education  to  Beethoven 
Jones,  and  upon  painting,  to  Washington  Allston 
Jones,  etc.  (Expository  Prose.) 

HOLMES,  O.  W. — Letter  to  School  Children  in  Cincinnati 
in  Riverside  Literature.  Series  No.  666.  Also,  the 
Life  of  Holmes.  There  are  fine  letters  from  Holmes 
in  the  correspondence  of  John  Lothrop  Motley. 

HOWELLS,  WILLIAM  D. — Letters  Home.  A  story  told  by 
means  of  letters  written  from  New  York  by  a  num- 
ber of  people  who  come  there  from  different  parts  of 
the  country.  The  life  of  the  great  metropolis  is 
vividly  pictured,  and  the  character  development  re- 
veals the  author's  usual  acute  observation. 

HUGO,  VICTOR — Letters.  2  vols.  These  letters  are  all 
fascinating  and  poetical.  His  letters  to  his  chil- 
dren show  how  his  fatherly  love  unbent  him.  See 
especially  his  letters  to  his  little  Didine,  pp.  218- 
122 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

219;  234-237,  242,  Vol.  I;  letters  to  Toto,  Vol.  II,  p. 
17;  good  advice  letters:  to  George  Sand,  Vol.  II, 
p.  245;  to  workingman  and  poet,  Vol.  II,  page  3; 
to  the  students  in  Paris,  1856,  Vol.  II,  p.  144.  He 
addresses  them  as  "young  and  courageous  fellow 
citizens";  to  (Jeorge  Sand,  Vol.  II,  p.  133,  on  the 
death  of  her  child;  and  on  p.  154,  Vol.  II,  he  writes 
to  her  on  the  murder  of  John  Brown,  and  refers 
to  the  spectacle  of  "a  free  nation  putting  to  death  a 
liberator."  In  his  letter  to  Heurtelou,  of  Haiti,  he 
gives  forth  noble  utterances.  To  Lamartine,  Vol. 
II,  p.  169,  he  says  that  "Les  Miserables  is  simply  a 
book  with  fraternity  for  its  starting  point,  and 
progress  for  its  goal." 

HUXLEY,  THOMAS — Life  and  Letters.  2  vols.  See  ex- 
tract from  his  journal,  telling  of  how  he  won  his 
first  medal,  Vol.  I,  p.  18;  letter  to  his  sister,  giving 
prospects  of  his  voyage  on  the  "Rattlesnake,"  Vol.  I, 
p.  28;  to  his  mother,  Vol.  I,  p.  49,  about  his  return, 
and  his  love  for  a  little  lassie  whom  he  would  like 
to  call  "wife";  page  69  is  interesting. 

IRVING,  WASHINGTON — A  compilation  of  letters  written 
in  graceful  prose  and  giving  sympathetic  impres- 
sions of  people  and  travels.  Those  under  the  title 
of  Jonathan  Oldstyle  are  entertaining. 

JEFFERSON,  THOMAS — Domestic  Life,  by  Randolph. 
Through  reading  Jefferson's  letters  to  his  daughters 
Martha  and  Mary  (Patsy  and  Polly),  one  gets  a 
knowledge  of  the  education  of  the  children  of  a 
Virginia  gentleman.  His  little  girls  were  left  moth- 
erless when  the  elder  was  about  eleven  years  old. 
Mr.  Jefferson,  being  appointed  plenipotentiary  to 
Europe,  left  them  in  care  of  their  aunt.  His  letters 
to  them  and  theirs  to  him,  before  they  joined  him, 
are  full  of  interest.  His  letters  to  Washington,  La- 
fayette, Jay  and  others  give  glints  of  the  politics  of 
the  times. 

123 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

JOHNSON,  SAMUEL — Life,  by  James  Boswell;  edited  by 
Birkbeck  Hill.  Conversations,  journal  and  letters 
all  included.  "The  more  we  study  Johnson,  the 
higher  will  be  our  esteem  for  the  power  of  his  mind, 
the  width  of  his  interests,  the  largeness  of  his  knowl- 
edge, the  freshness,  fearlessness  and  strength  of  his 
judgments." — Matthew  Arnold. 

KEATS,  JOHN — Letters.  These  letters  serve  as  a  key  to 
the  wealth  and  richness  of  Keats's  nature.  The  let- 
ter to  his  sister  Fanny,  p.  146,  is  typical  of  this 
spirit.  It  gives  an  account  of  a  trip  and  is  inter- 
spersed with  ballads  about  the  naughty  boy  (him- 
self) who  would  do  nothing  but  scribble  poetry:  — 

took  He  ran. 

An  inkstand  To  the  mountains 

In    his    hand  And  fountains 

And  a  pen  And  ghosts 

Big  as  ten  And  posts 

In  the  other  And  witches 

And  away  And  ditches,  etc. 

This  letter,  written  in  sections,  ends  with  a  most  ex- 
travagant statement  about  his  appetite,  which  called  for 
clothes-baskets  full  of  eggs,  and  other  items  in  propor- 
tion. 

KINGSLEY,  CHARLES — Life  and  Letters.  The  record  of  a 
most  remarkably  earnest  life.  To  know  the  letters 
in  this  volume  is  to  know  some  of  the  best  people 
and  the  best  thought  of  England  in  the  nineteenth 
century. 

LAMB,  CHARLES — Letters.  The  most  rare  collection  of 
quaint  fancy  and  delightful  humor.  Lamb's  love  for 
old  books  lends  a  charm  to  his  pen  whatever  be  his 
theme.  Note  especially  his  letters  to  Wordsworth, 
Coleridge,  Hazlitt,  Southey,  and  mark  the  undivided 
love  he  bore  his  sister. 

LAMB,  MARY — By  Anne  Gilchrist.    This  volume  contains 
letters  fom  Mary  Lamb  and   from  her  brother  to 
124 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

their  numerous  correspondents.  See  especially  the 
letters  about  their  Tales  from  Shakespeare,  pp.  154 
to  168.  Also  her  letters  to  Dorothy  and  William 
Wordsworth,  to  Mrs.  Hazlitt,  and  her  correspondence 
with  Sara  Stoddart. 

LANG,  A. — Letters  to  living  and  dead  authors  contain 
criticism  given  in  conversational  style. 

LANIER,  SIDNEY — Letters.  The  letters  are  in  four 
groups:  "A  Poet's  Musical  Impressions,"  and  "Let- 
ters Between  Two  Poets,"  Bayard  Taylor  and  Sid- 
ney Lanier,  are  especially  interesting.  See  letter, 
p.  67,  on  the  springtime;  on  Wagner's  music,  p.  68; 
also  pp.  69,  70,  71,  76,  77.  On  pp.  82-84  there  is  a 
most  graphic  account  of  his  evening  at  Peabody  In- 
stitute, Baltimore,  pp.  105-106.  Every  letter  in  the 
first-named  group  above  is  instructive  to  any  mu- 
sically inclined  person. 

LABCOM,  LUCY — Life  and  Letters.     See  page  165,  to  Jean 

'  Ingelow;  p.  170,  to  Whittier.  This  book  gives  a  true 
picture  of  New  England  girlhood,  and  one  visits 
with  old  literary  friends  on  its  pages. 

Letters  for  Arbor  Day.  Arbor  Day  Manual,  edited  and 
compiled  by  Charles  R.  Skinner.  See  pp.  373  to  387. 
Here  are  to  be  found  letters  from  many  noted  people 
regarding  the  custom  of  tree-planting  and  in  re- 
sponse to  the  honor  conferred  upon  them  by  the 
naming  of  trees  for  them.  There  are  also  in  this 
book,  specimen  arbor-day  programs,  and  information 
upon  the  respective  merits  of  trees. 

LINCOLN,  ABRAHAM — Complete  Works.  2  vols.  Letters 
and  state  papers,  by  Hay  and  Nicolay.  The  let- 
ters of  Mr.  Lincoln  are  not  only  full  of  noble  senti- 
ment at  every  point,  but  they  sustain  the  matchless 
style  of  the  Gettysburg  address.  These  volumes 
should  be  familiar  to  all  the  young  people  of  Amer- 
ica. 

LONGFELLOW,  HENRY  W. — Life;  edited  by  S.  Longfellow. 
125 


LETTEES  AND  LETTEK  WEITING 

2  vols.  His  journals  and  letters  justify  Lowell's 
comparison  of  his  life  to  a  pure  temple,  in  which 
no  unclean  thing  ever  entered. 

LOWELL,  J.  R. — Letters.  2  vols.  Full  of  delightful  humor 
and  a  fine  literary  quality,  revealing  the  man.  All 
the  older  students  should  know  his  letters  to  Miss 
Cabot  on  reading,  Vol.  II,  p.  39;  his  advice  to  his 
nephew,  Charles  Lowell,  Vol.  1,  p.  162;  to  Edward 
Davis,  on  the  study  of  history,  Vol.  I,  pp.  90-92.  His 
letter  on  Maria  White's  presentation  of  the  temper- 
ance banner  is  matchless.  Also  Vol.  I,  p.  195,  to 
Miss  Shaw,  playful  fancy.  Vol.  I,  p.  240,  experience 
in  Germany;  Vol.  I,  p.  265,  change  of  home;  they 
are  all  good. 

MACAULAY,  T.  B. — Life  and  Letters,  by  G.  O.  Trevelyan. 
2  vols.  See  letters  to  his  little  niece,  Margaret,  Vol. 
II,  pp.  202-207.  Baba's  letter,  September  15,  1842. 
Macaulay's  letters  have  the  grace  of  his  easy  style 
and  lose  none  of  his  spontaneity. 

MADISON,  DOLLY — Memoirs  and  Letters.  Letters  that 
form  a  picture  of  political  and  fashionable  life  in 
the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century  in  the 
United  States. 

MARSHALL,  JOHN — Life  of  Marshall,  in  American  States- 
men series  (p.  92).  Letter  to  Judge  Archibald 
Stuart. 

MOLTKE,  VON — Letters  to  Mother  and  Brother.  (Trans.) 
The  keenest  observation  of  men,  events  and  na- 
ture are  revealed  in  these  letters  in  a  most  realis- 
tic way.  See  picture  of  his  home,  p.  15;  his  life  at 
Griittenberg,  p.  17;  his  impressions  of  the  Bospho- 
rus,  p.  80;  pictures  of  life  in  the  east,  pp.  82-85;  im- 
pressions of  London,  p.  166;  description  of  Berlin 
Museum,  pp.  237-240. 

MONTAGU,  LADY  MARY  (PIERREPONT)  WORTLEY — Lady 
Mary  was  a  conspicuous  member  of  English  society 
from  1718  to  1739,  and  was  a  friend  of  Pope's,  Sir 
126 


LETTEKS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

Horace  Walpole's,  and  Lord  Hervey's.  She  was  a 
companion  to  her  husband  on  his  embassy  to  Turkey 
and  her  letters  from  there  are  sprightly  and  full  of 
observations  on  people  and  things.  See  letter 
XXXVIII,  p.  112,  from  Adrianople;  to  Pope,  p.  133, 
from  Belgrade  "Village,  her  best  letter;  from  Vienna, 
p.  77;  see  p.  107  about  vaccination  which  she  speaks 
of  bringing  to  England;  the  dedicatory  letter  to 
Lady  Mary,  by  the  editor,  is  full  of  suggestive  hints 
about  the  contents  and  quality  of  the  letters. 

MORE,  SIR  THOMAS — Life;  by  R.  H.  Hutton.  Sir  Thomas 
More  is  rightly  called  the  "Hero  of  Conscience."  See 
his  letter  to  his  daughter,  written  in  prison  with  a 
coal.  See  also  his  letter  of  rebuke  to  Oxford  for  its 
opposition  to  the  study  of  Greek  (found  in  Froude's 
Life  of  Erasmus). 

MOTLEY,  JOHN  LOTHROP — Correspondence;  edited  by 
George  William  Curtis.  2  vols.  A  series  of  delight- 
ful letters,  including  the  writer's  experience  in  Rus- 
sia, Holland,  England  and  Austria,  and  his  friend- 
ship with  Bismarck  and  the  notabilities  of  Europe. 
His  correspondence  with  Holmes  forms  a  most  in- 
teresting group;  his  references  to  the  Civil  War 
show  the  deep  feeling  at  that  time.  The  reading  of 
these  volumes  is  a  really  delightful  way  to  go  abroad 
and  make  acquaintance  with  people  and  places  in 
other  lands. 

MULLER,  F.  MAX — Life  and  Letters;  edited  by  his  wife. 
3  vols.  The  letters  were  intended  to  bring  the  man 
rather  than  the  scholar  before  the  world;  they  reveal 
both. 

NEWMAN,  JOHN  HENRY — Letters  and  Correspondence, 
with  a  brief  Autobiography;  edited  by  Anne  Mozley. 
The  letters  of  Newman  are  valued  for  the  light  they 
throw  on  the  Oxford  movement  as  well  as  for  the 
masterful,  finished  prose  in  which  they  are  written. 

OSBORNE,    DOROTHY — Letters    to     Sir    William    Temple, 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

1652-54;  edited  by  E.  A.  Perry.  An  old-time  court- 
ship, recorded  from  beginning  to  end  in  a  series  of 
letters  written  in  a  most  agreeable  and  attractive 
style,  in  a  time  when  ladies  told  their  dreams  and 
indulged  in  quaint  fancies. 

PASTON  LETTERS;  edited  by  James  Gairdner.  3  vols. 
A  series  of  letters  written  by  members  of  the  Pas- 
ton  family  of  county  of  Norfolk,  England.  The 
letters  extend  from  1424  to  1509,  and  give  valuable 
fifteenth  century  history. 

PATMORE,  COVENTRY — Memoirs  and  Correspondence,  by 
Basil  Champneys.  2  vols.  These  letters  are  all  in- 
teresting and  reveal  a  familiarity  with  books  and 
men  which  grew  out  of  the  experiences  of  the  au- 
thor  and  out  of  his  position  as  assistant  librarian 
in  the  British  Museum  for  twenty-one  years.  The 
group  of  family  letters  in  Vol.  I!  is  especially  in- 
teresting. There  are  also  letters  from  Tennyson, 
Rossetti,  Morris,  Emerson,  Ruskin  and  others. 

PEPYS,  SAMUEL — Diary;  edited  by  H.  B.  Wheatley.  9 
vols.  It  is  thought  to  be  one  of  the  most  singular 
and  entertaining  journals  in  any  language.  It 
covers  an  interesting  period  from  1659  to  1669. 
Pepys  was  above  all  else  an  observer  and  a  faithful 
recorder  of  men  and  things. 

PLINY,  "THE  YOUNGER." — Letters.  Pliny's  letters  are  said 
to  be  more  graphic  than  Cicero's.  His  most  cele- 
brated letter  is  the  one  to  Trajan  concerning  the 
treatment  of  the  Christians  in  the  province  of 
Bithynia,  of  which  Pliny  was  governor.  His  account 
of  the  eruption  of  Vesuvius,  79  A.  D.,  is  of  great 
interest  to  students.  See  also  his  letter  to  Tacitus, 
describing  his  offer  to  assist  his  townspeople  in  the 
establishment  of  a  school  for  their  youth. 

ROBERTSON,  F.  W. — Life,  Letters  and  Addresses.     1823- 
53.     A  man  famous  for  his  pure  life,  high  thought 
and  for  his  ministry  in  Trinity  chapel,  Brighton. 
128 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

ROBINSON,  HENRY  CRABB — Diary,  Reminiscences  and 
Correspondence;  edited  by  Thomas  Sadler.  2  vols. 
His  diary  and  letters  contain  reminiscences  of  some 
of  the  most  notable  men  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
and  give  a  faithful  picture  of  the  social  and  literary 
life  as  well. 

ROSSETTI,  D.  G. — Familiar  Letters;  Letters  to  William 
Allingham.  Interesting  for  what  they  reveal  of 
their  author. 

RUSKIN,  JOHN — Hortus  Inclusus.  The  letters  to  the  la- 
dies of  the  Thwaite,  Coniston,  form  a  record  of  a 
most  beautiful  friendship.  All  the  letters  to  Susie, 
and  the  group  from  Susie  to  Mr.  Ruskin  are  very 
interesting.  Mr.  Ruskin's  letters  to  workingmen  in 
Fors  Clavigera  contain  valuable  contributions  to 
social  science.  The  letter  on  the  14th  of  May,  and 
his  page  about  wrens,  and  the  history  of  a  black- 
bird in  Hortus  Inclusus,  are  all  pleasing  reading. 

SCOTT,  SIR  WALTER — Familiar  Letters.  2  vols.  Vol.  I, 
p.  36,  about  his  dog  Camp;  p.  347,  to  his  son  Walter; 
home  news;  Vol.  I,  p.  232,  tutoring  his  son  Walter; 
pp.  247-248,  to  his  daughter  Sophia.  A  delightful 
collection  of  letters. 

SEVIGNE,  MADAME  DE — Letters.  See  letters  from  Brit- 
tany. "The  queen  of  all  letter-writers." — Edward 
Fitzgerald. 

SHELLEY,  PERCY  BYSSHE — Essays  and  Letters;  edited  by 
Ernest  Rhys.  The  letters  of  Shelley  are  full  of  in- 
terest for  their  charm  of  description,  and  for 
touches  given  of  Byron,  Leigh  Hunt,  his  wife 
and  others  in  his  little  circle  of  friends  on 
the  shores  of  the  Adriatic.  They  also  picture  Shel- 
ley as  poet,  and  contain  his  opinions  of  his  own 
poems,  and  of  his  state  of  mind  when  he  wrote 
them. 

STANTON,  ELIZABETH  CADY — Eighty  Years  and  More; 
Reminiscences  of  Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton.  Some 
129 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

interesting  letters  throwing  light  upon  the  leaders 
in  the  suffrage  movement.  See  p.  217,  letter  from 
Lucretia  Mott.  Letter  from  Mrs.  Stanton  to  the 
New  York  Tribune,  p.  220;  also  pp.  310-311. 

STERLING,  JOHN — Life,  by  Thomas  Carlyle.  The  letters 
in  this  volume  show  the  rare  qualities  of  a  rare  soul. 
See  his  letter  to  his  little  son  from  Ventnor,  June, 
1844,  giving  his  memories  of  London;  also  his  letters 
to  Carlyle  and  to  his  wife. 

STEVENSON,  R.  L. — Letters.  2  vols.  See  Vol.  II,  p.  149, 
letters  to  "Tomarcher"  (Tom  Archer),  charming 
child's  letter.  More  serious,  pp.  183-187,  to  Mrs. 
Stevenson  and  Sidney  Colvin,  tell  of  the  leper  set- 
tlement. To  Henry  James,  p.  253,  a  part  of  it. 
The  Vailima  Letters  give  a  picture  of  the  Samoan 
life  and  Stevenson's  staving-off  of  death.  See  ad- 
dress at  end  of  Vol.  II,  on  the  building  of  the  road. 

STOWE,  MRS.  HARRIET  BEECHER — Life  and  Letters.  Told 
mainly  from  her  letters  of  later  life.  "In  our  grati- 
tude to  the  statesmen  and  soldiers  of  that  great 
day,  let  us  not  forget  the  part  [taken]  by  this  frail 
New  England  woman." — Dial. 

SWIFT,  JONATHAN — Letters  and  Journals;  edited  by  Stan- 
ley Lane  Poole.  See  also  Journal  to  Stella,  edited  by 
George  Aitkin.  Swift's  letters  abound  in  allusions 
to  people  of  all  classes.  His  masterful  use  of  satire, 
his  power  to  hate  intensely  and  love  passionately, 
and  his  gift  in  the  use  of  vigorous  English,  have 
given  him  a  place  of  his  own  in  literature. 

SYMONDS,  JOHN  ADDINGTON — A  biography  compiled  from 
his  papers  and  letters  successfully  put  together  into 
a  consecutive  narrative. 

TENNYSON,  ALFRED  LORD — A  Memoir,  by  his  Son.  2  vols. 
The  letters  in  these  volumes  form  a  commentary 
upon  the  thought  of  Tennyson  and  of  the  nine- 
teenth century.  They  correct  the  earlier  inadequate 
interpretations  of  the  master's  writings  and  set 
130 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

forth  Tennyson,  the  man,  in  his  large  catholicity 
of  taste  and  judgment  and  equable  temper  of  mind. 

THAXTEB,  CELIA — Letters.  Miss  Thaxter  writes  most 
charmingly  about  the  birds.  Some  of  her  interest- 
ing letters  are:  To  My  Darling  Little  Man,  p.  17; 
to  Whittier,  p.  458  fol.;  to  Bradford  Torrey,  Ap- 
pledore,  Isle  of  Shoals  off  Portsmouth,  May,  1890, 
p.  175,  about  birds;  about  Whittier,  p.  185,  to  E.  L. 
Wingate;  about  Jefferies,  p.  192;  to  Olive  Thorne 
Miller,  p.  214  ft;  to  Mary  Cowden  Clarke,  p.  216 
fol.;  about  her  proud  children,  see  poem  at  end  of 
book. 

THOREAU,  H.  D. — Letters.  While  written  for  adults, 
their  humor,  pungency,  directness,  insight  and  love 
of  nature  make  these  letters  especially  attractive 
to  older  boys  and  girls.  See  letters,  p.  161,  on  going 
over  the  mountain;  p.  134,  moralizing  on  sugar 
making;  p.  155,  an  account  of  a  trip;  p.  126,  ideal- 
ization of  his  life.  These  letters  furnish  specimens 
of  a  straightforward  style. 

TICKNOR,  GEORGE — Life,  Letters  and  Journals.  2  vols. 
"The  pages  of  Mr.  Ticknor's  Diary  and  Letters  are 
full  of  anecdotes,  of  descriptions  of  remarkable  men 
and  women,  and  unusual  personal  experiences,  so 
well  told  as  to  form  a  contribution  of  no  slight 
value  to  our  knowledge  of  the  life  of  the  times." — 
Nation. 

WALLACE,  HENRY — Letters  to  a  Farm  Boy.  Gives  dignity 
to  labor,  shows  the  farm  boy  that  nothing  need  hin- 
der him  from  being  educated,  and  suggests  means 
on  every  hand  for  his  development.  Chapters  VIII 
and  XVIII  are  suggestive.  The  author  may  set  too 
little  store  by  books,  but  the  letters  are  certainly 
helpful.  (Examples  of  expository  prose.) 

WALPOLE,  HORACE,  EARL  OF  ORFORD — Letters.  2  vols.  "It 
is  as  letter-writer  that  he  attains  his  highest  point. 


131 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

.  .  .  Byron  did  not  over-praise  them  when  he 
called  them  'incomparable.' " — Austin  Dobson. 

WASHINGTON,  GEORGE — The  Writings  of  Washington;  ed- 
ited by  Jared  Sparks.  Vol.  VI  contains  many  inter- 
esting letters  to  Lafayette,  to  the  president  of 
Congress,  and  to  officers  and  statesmen  in  the  Revo- 
lutionary War.  Washington  was  a  letter-writer  pos- 
sessing dignity,  clearness  and  cordiality. 

WHITE,  GILBERT — The  Natural  History  of  Selborne.  The 
book  is  all  good;  it  contains  letters,  observations 
and  a  naturalist's  calendar;  also  poems.  His  letters 
are  reprinted  in  more  editions  than  those  of  any 
other  English  worthy.  (1720-1793.) 

WHITTIER,  JOHN  GREENLEAF — Life  and  Letters.  2  vols. 
By  S.  T.  Pickard.  A  book  rich  in  facts,  deep  in  feel- 
ing, and  beautiful  in  simplicity. 

WINSLOW,  ANNA  GREEN — Diary.  A  sprightly  record  of 
the  daily  life  of  a  school-girl  in  provincial  Boston. 
Filled  with  vivacious  and  witty  description. 

WINTHROP,  J.  AND  MRS.  M.  T. — Some  Old  Puritan  Love 
Letters.  1681-38.  Letters  by  Governor  Winthrop 
and  his  wife  while  she  was  waiting  to  join  him  in 
America. 

WORDSWORTH,  DOROTHY — Journals,  by  W.  Knight.  Full 
of  delightful  days;  it  "renews  and  deepens"  one's 
knowledge  of  a  most  rare  friendship  between 
brother  and  sister  in  literary  work. 


2.    Autobiographies. 

EBERS,  GEORGE — Story  of  My  Life.  1893.  His  autobiog- 
raphy, which  records  his  life  to  the  completion  of 
his  first  novel,  gives  a  touching  retrospect  of  his 
childhood  and  an  account  of  his  later  education. 
There  is  also  a  description  of  the  famous  Keilhau 
school  (founded  by  Froebel). 
132 


LETTERS  AND  LETTEE  WKITING 

FRANKLIN,  BENJAMIN  —  Autobiography.  Franklin  is 
said  to  be  the  only  man  who  was  his  own  Boswell. 

GIBBON,  EDWARD — Autobiography.  "All  critics  agree  that 
Gibbon's  autobiography  is  a  model  in  its  way." 

— Leslie  Stephen. 

GRANT,  GEN.  ULYSSES  S. — Personal  Memoirs.  2  vols. 
"Grant's  grandly  simple  record  of  his  own  life  is  a 
true  classic."  — Theodore  Roosevelt. 

HALE,  EDWARD  EVERETT — A  New  England  Boyhood,  and 
Sixty  Years  of  My  Life,  contain  the  author's  auto- 
biography up  to  1899. 

HAMERTON,  PHILIP  GILBERT — An  Autobiography.  1834- 
1858,  and  a  memoir,  by  his  wife.  Writings  that 
have  helped  to  create  an  art  atmosphere  of  his  age 
have  been  left  by  Mr.  Hamerton.  His  memoirs  are 
told  in  a  lively  manner. 

JEFFERSON,  JOSEPH — Autobiography.  Mr.  Jefferson  is 
said  to  have  written  his  book  in  a  style  that  is  dra- 
matic and  with  a  charm  that  is  his  own. 

MARTINEAU,  HARRIET — Autobiography.  "This  is  doubtless 
one  of  the  very  honestest  autobiographies  ever  writ- 
ten, and  in  respect  to  careful  self-analysis,  it  prob- 
ably stands  at  the  head  of  its  class." — The  Nation. 

MILL,  J.  S. — Autobiography.  A  most  instructive  and  in- 
teresting autobiography,  throwing  light  upon  the 
problems  of  education,  and  giving  insight  into  the 
life  of  a  great  philosopher. 

MULLER,  F.  MAX— Autobiography;  edited  by  W.  G.  Miil- 
ler.  A  most  inspiring  book  for  struggling  young 
scholars. 

OLIPHANT,  MRS.  MARGARET — Autobiography  and  Letters. 
The  tragic  struggle  of  a  brave  woman  is  herein 
portrayed  with  unfailing  interest. 

RTJSKIN,  JOHN — Prseterita;  an  autobiography  told  in 
Ruskin's  frank  truthfulness  and  charming  style. 
Ruskin  accounts  for  himself  in  a  most  convincing 
way. 

133 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

STILLMAN,  WILLIAM  JAMES — Autobiography  of  a  Jour- 
nalist. The  events  incident  to  the  life  of  a  consul, 
ventures  in  journalism,  and  foreign  correspondence, 
are  all  told  in  a  captivating  way. 

WASHINGTON,  BOOKER  TALIAFERBO — Up  From  Slavery; 
an  Autobiography.  "Mr.  Washington  has  had  suc- 
cess that  would  turn  the  head  of  many  a  white  man, 
but  his  own  is  right  side  up." — Nation. 


134 


PART  II 


PEEFATOEY  NOTE 


The  general  aim  of  Part  II  has  been  stated  in  the 
preface  proper ;  but  it  may  be  well  to  suggest  that  the 
roll  of  the  seasons  and  special  occasions  may  demand 
a  use  of  the  chapters  out  of  the  consecutive  order  in 
which  they  have  been  placed  for  the  sake  of  unity  in 
arrangement. 

The  work  from  the  students  has  not  been  changed 
except  in  the  correction  of  spelling  and  of  the  most 
prominent  errors  in  grammar.  The  vocabulary,  the 
style,  and  the  spirit  of  the  writer  has  been  carefully 
preserved  throughout.  Part  II  has  been  the  direct 
outcome  of  school-room  practice  by  numbers  of  teach- 
ers ;  this  will  account  for  the  placing  of  the  letters  by 
Mr.  Woodrow  Wilson  and  Miss  Sarah  Orne  Jewett  in 
this  part. 


136 


-  CHAPTER  I 

LETTER-WRITING   IN   CONNECTION   WITH 
NATURE  STUDY 

I.    AUTUMN 
OCTOBER'S  BRIGHT  BLUE  WEATHER 

0  suns  and  skies  and  clouds  of  June, 

And  flowers  of  June  together, 
Ye  can  not  rival  for  one  hour 

October's  bright  blue  weather. 

When  loud  the  bumble-bee  makes  haste , 

Belated,  thriftless  vagrant, 
And  golden-rod  is  dying  fast, 

And  lanes  with  grapes  are  fragrant; 

When  gentians  roll  their  fringes  tight 
To  save  them  from  the  morning, 

And  chestnuts  fall  from  satin  burs 
Without  a  sound  of  warning. 

When  on  the  ground  red  apples  lie 

In  piles  like  jewels  shining, 
And  redder  still  on  old  stone  walls 

Are  leaves  of  woodbine  twining; 
137 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

When  all  the  lovely  wayside  things 
Their  white-winged  seeds  are  sowing. 

And  in  the  fields,  still  green  and  fair 
Late  aftermaths  are  growing; 

When  springs  run  low,  and  on  the  brooks 

In  idle  golden  freighting, 
Bright  leaves  sink  noiseless  in  the  hush 

Of  woods,  for  winter  waiting. 

0  suns  and  shies  and  flowers  of  June, 

Count  all  your  boasts  together, 
Love  loveth  best  of  all  the  year 

October's  bright  blue  weather. 

—H.H. 

1.    THINGS  TO  BE  OBSERVED  IN  AUTUMN  : 

a.  The  signs  of  autumn  on  the  trees. 

b.  The  autumn  tints  everywhere. 

c.  The  scents  of  autumn  in  field  and  wood. 

d.  The  fruit  and  grain  that  belong  to  autumn. 

e.  The  bursting  of  the  ripened  pods  and  the 

flying  of  the  winged  seeds. 

/.     The  blueness  of  the  sky,  the  golden  sunshine, 
the  length  of  day. 

g.     The  preparation  for  winter  made  by  man. 

h.     The  preparation  for  winter  made  by  ani- 
mals.    Note  the  bee  storing  honey;  the 
caterpillar  spinning  his  cocoon ;  the  squir- 
rel laying  up  nuts. 
138 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

i.     Note  the  departing  birds. 
/.     Note  the  sluggish  brook. 

2.    READ  THE  FOLLOWING  LETTERS  IN  PART  I : 

From :  Page 

John  Burroughs 20,  52 

N.  P.  Willis 82 

Maria  White 77 

William  Cowper 78 

Coventry  Patmore 28 

J.  R.  Lowell 79 

The  Arbor  Day  group 102  to  112 

Edward  Fitzgerald 83 

From  Alice  Chapin  in  Part  II 154 

Emerson  to  Carlyle 80 

Consult  the  Bibliography  and  see  the  letters  of 

Henry  D.  Thoreau  and  the  journal  of  Gilbert 

White. 


3.    LETTER  ASSIGNMENTS. 

INDIANAPOLIS,  IND., 

October  14,  1902. 
Dear  Mr.  Burroughs: — 

I  am  at  School  No. .  Our  teacher  is  Miss 


She  told  us  that  she  knew  of  you  when  she  was  a  little 
girl,  and  so  I  thought  I  should  like  to  know  you  also. 
I  am  a  little  girl.  I  am  eight  years  old. 

This  letter  is  a  secret.     No  one  in  the  building 
knows  it  but  just  our  room. 
139 


LETTERS  AND  LETTEE  WRITING 

So  I  am  going  to  tell  you  about  my  caterpillar  and 
its  cocoon.  I  have  a  caterpillar  in  my  desk.  He  is 
making  his  cocoon.  He  fastens  it  with  the  tiniest 
threads  that  he  can  make.  First  he  takes  a  leaf ;  then 
he  bites  all  of  it  away  until  he  comes  to  the  veins  and 
then  he  spins  his  cocoon  very  neatly.  He  goes  into 
it  and  closes  it  after  him  very  tight.  When  he  goes 
in  his  hair  comes  off.  He  fastens  his  hair  into  his 
house  and  then  sleeps  very  soundly  all  winter.  In 
spring  the  warm  sunshine  and  the  soft  sweet  spring 
rains  come  and  wake  him  up. 

Then  he  unfastens  his  door  and  comes  out  and  he 
is  a  great  fine  butterfly.  So  this  story  is  done. 

Now  Miss told  us  that  you  were  a  good,  kind 

man  and  that  you  studied  all  kinds  of  insects  and 
animals,  so  I  wish  that  you  would  send  us  a  letter 
and  tell  us  all  about  the  animals  that  run  over  your 
great  farm. 

Oh,  I  shall  be  so  glad  to  get  a  letter  from  you. 

There's  another  thing  I  want  to  tell  you:  Could 
you  come  out  here  once  and  see  our  beautiful  school 
building?  ...  0  please  do  come  and  see  our 
school  and  when  I  have  your  letter,  I  am  going  to 
give  it  to  my  Mamma  and  Papa.  .  .  .  Well, 
good-by.  Send  it  soon.  Your  little  friend, 

R P . 

a.  Write  to  R.  P.  such  a  letter  as  you  think  Mr. 
Burroughs  might  have  written  in  answer  to  hers, 
and  then  find  his  answer  in  Part  I. 

6.     Using  R.   P/s   letter  as  suggestion  write  to 


140 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

your  mother  and  tell  her  what  you  have  been  study- 
ing at  school  in  the  way  of  nature  observation. 

c.  The  following  letter  was  written  by  a  High  School 
student  who  endeavored  to  interest  Mr.  Burroughs  in 
the  outdoor  life  around  Indianapolis: 

INDIANAPOLIS,  IND.,  Oct.  10,  1902. 
Dear  Mr.  Burroughs: — 

I  have  been  hearing  and  thinking  a  great  deal  about 
you  lately  and  in  order  to  feel  better  acquainted  I 
have  decided  to  write  you  a  short  letter.  Books  say 
that  you  are  fond  of  nature  in  its  uncultivated  form, 
so  I  know  you  love  the  woods,  especially  in  this  sea- 
son of  the  year.  I  think  the  trees  are  more  beautiful 
in  the  autumn  than  at  any  other  time,  and  then,  too, 
it  is  the  nutting  season.  I  wish  that  you  would  come 
here  to  live,  for  we  High  School  students  know  so 
many  fine  places  around  Indianapolis  to  get  nuts  and 
see  pretty  woods,  and  you  could  go  with  us  and  tell 
us  things  about  nature,  which  we  can  never  get  in 
Botany  and  Science  books. 

Just  north  of  the  city  there  is  a  splendid  big  wood 
and  the  fact  that  a  high  fence  has  to  be  climbed  to 
get  into  it  adds  to  it  charm,  at  least  to  me,  for  I 
feel  so  much  more  "Indianish"  and  uncivilized  than 
if  I  walked  in  through  an  open  gateway.  Here  you 
can  get  both  walnuts  and  hickory  nuts,  providing,  of 
course,  that  you  get  there  in  time. 

The  main  pleasure  though  is  not  in  the  nut-gather- 
ing, but  in  finding  puff  balls  and  odd  leaves  and  in 
hearing  the  leaves  rustle  as  you  walk  in  them.    On 
141 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

the  way  out  there  you  can  find  golden-rod  and  a 
pretty  blue  wild  flower  whose  name  I  do  not  know. 
Last  Saturday  we  found  a  mole  burrowing  in  the 
ground  out  there  and  I  think  whenever  I  hear  the 
expression  "son  of  the  soil"  I  shall  always  think  of 
that  mole. 

Have  you  ever  read  Mrs.  Browning's  poem  of  The 
Swan's  Nest  among  the  Reeds?  It  is  only  a  short 
poem  about  a  little  girl,  who  in  all  her  high-flown  day 
dreams  of  a  knightly  lover  kept  in  mind  the  fact  that 
she  must  show  him  the  swan's  nest  among  the  reeds, 
which  only  she  knew  where  to  find.  I  think  "Little 
Ellie,"  as  she  was  called,  was  a  true  nature  lover,  don't 
you? 

This  is  rather  a  long  letter  for  a  stranger  to  write, 
but  I  don't  feel  like  a  stranger,  as  in  our  English 
class  we  have  talked  so  much  about  you.  Besides, 
people  who  like  the  same  things  ought  to  know  and 
like  each  other,  which  sounds  like  an  axiom  in  Geom- 
etry. Please  believe  that  in  Indianapolis,  you  have 
a  sincere  friend  in  Yours  truly, 

B V . 

Using  the  above  letter  as  suggestive,  write  to  some 
friend  and  interest  him  in  your  outdoor  surroundings. 

d.     Select  some  correspondent,  and  in  your  letters 
to  that  person  make  use  of  the  following  suggestions : 
(i)   The  story  of  Proserpina, 
(ii)   Of  a  nutting-party  that  you  had. 
(iii)   Of  a  thistle-down,  or  the  milk-weed  pods 
on  your  common. 
U2 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

(iv)  Write  to  some  one  living  in  another  zone 
and  tell  of  the  autumn  where  you  live. 

(v)  Write  an  imaginary  letter  from  some 
grandmother  inviting  her  children  or 
her  grandchildren  to  the  old  home  for 
Thanksgiving  dinner.  Make  reference  to 
the  past  in  your  letter. 

(vi)  Write  a  farewell  to  the  departing  birds. 

(vii)   Write    the    imaginary    reflections    of    a 

Thanksgiving  turkey. 

(viii)  Write  letters  to  the  principal  of  your 
building  and  name  therein  the  tree  that 
you  wish  to  be  planted  for  fall  Arbor 
Day.  (See  letters  on  Arbor  Day.)  State 
the  special  merits  of  the  tree  that  you 
select. 

(ix)  Write  a  letter  in  the  name  of  the  "Dis- 
contented Leaf."  (See  Henry  Ward 
Beecher's  story  by  that  name.) 

(x)   Read  Bryant's  Planting  of  the  Apple-tree 
and  embody  the  ideas  of  the  poem  in  a 
letter   of   "Reminiscences   of  My   Early 
Life." 
4.     JOURNALS. 

a.  Keep  a  weather  journal  for  October,  noting 
the  warmth,  light,  length  of  day,  the 
clouds,  the  signs  of  the  season,  the  woods, 
the  nuts,  trees,  leaves,  and  grass,  the 
brook,  and  the  birds  in  their  flight. 
[In  journals  for  all  seasons,  note,  in  ad- 
dition to  above,  the  temperature  (heat 
143 


LETTEES  AND  LETTEK  WKITING 

and  cold),  moisture  and  dryness,  clear 
and  cloudy  weather,  the  appearance  of 
the  sky,  the  sunrise,  sunset,  stars,  moon; 
the  winds,  their  direction  and  what  they 
bring;  read  the  reports  of  the  weather 
bureau  and  find  out  where  the  cold  or  hot 
wave  comes  from.  Form  conclusions 
from  your  observations,  and  discover  re- 
lations between  moisture  and  tempera- 
ture, wind  and  cloud  and  mountain. 
Note  the  effect  of  the  weather  upon  the 
world  about  us.] 

b.  Write  the  journal  of  a  squirrel  getting  ready 

for  winter. 

c.  Of  a  honey  bee. 

d.  Of  a  grasshopper. 

e.  Of  a  Puritan  maiden  during  the  early  times 

in  New  England. 

f.  Of  Hiawatha's  friendship  with  the  animals. 

g.  Of  an  early  settler  at  Thanksgiving  time, 
h.     Of  a  student  in  Ichabod  Crane's  school. 

i.     Of  an  old  Dutch  housewife  making  ready  for 

winter. 
5.    AUTOBIOGRAPHIES. 

a.  Write  the  autobiography  of  a  girl's  straw 

hat. 

b.  Of  a  Thanksgiving  turkey. 

c.  Of  an  old  stump. 

d.  Of  a  lichen. 

e.  Of  the  Dandelion  in  Hiawatha. 

f.  Of  an  apple-seed. 

144 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

g.     Of  the  month  of  October. 
h.     Of  a  bit  of  pampas  grass. 


IP.    WINTER. 

WINTER  SONG 

Summer  joys  are  o'er; 
Flowerets  bloom  no  more., 
Wintry  winds  a-sweeping; 
Through  the  snowdrifts  peeping, 

Cheerful  evergreen 

Rarely  now  is  seen. 

Now  no  plumed  throng 

Charms  the  woods  with  song; 

Ice-bound  trees  are  glittering; 

Merry  snowbirds  twittering, 
Fondly  strive  to  cheer 
Scenes  so  cold  and  drear. 

Winter,  still  I  see 

Many  charms  in  thee, — 

Love  thy  chilly  greeting, 

Snowstorms  fiercely  beating, 
And  the  dear  delights 
Of  the  long,  long  nights. 

1.    THINGS  TO  BE  OBSERVED: 

a.  Frost  and  the  work  it  does. 

b,  Snow :  its  formation,  shape  of  its  crystals. 

145 


LETTEES  AND  LETTEE  WEITING 

c.  Snowstorms ;  the  earth  after  a  snowstorm. 

d.  Formation  of  ice  crystals — icebergs. 

e.  Sports  in  connection  with  frost,  snow,  and  ice. 

f.  Fireside  enjoyments  in  winter. 

g.  The  earth  as  it  appears  in  winter  and  the  es- 

pecial appearance  of  the  bare  trees  and  win- 
ter scenes. 

2.  EEAD  THE  FOLLOWING  LETTERS  IN  PART  I : 

From :  Page 

Coventry  Patmore 28 

William  Cowper 78 

3.  LETTER  ASSIGNMENTS. 

My  dear  Mary : 

That  was  an  interesting  little  letter  that  you  wrote 
me.  Yes,,  I  know  Jack  Frost ;  he  has  been  here,  too. 
I  am  going  to  tell  you  what  happened  early  one 
morning.  It  was  a  very  cold  morning  and  I  was  just 
ready  to  go  downstairs  when  I  stepped  to  the  window 
to  look  out;  but  I  at  once  forgot  what  I  was  looking 
to  see,  for  there  before  me  was  the  window  covered 
with  pictures.  There  were  mountains,  and  boats,  and 
windmills  and  bridges ;  there  were  queer  little  houses 
and  trees  and  a  church  with  steeple  so  tall  and  so 
crooked  that  I  thought  it  surely  would  fall.  But 
what  do  you  think  I  saw  next?  the  most  beautiful 
picture  of  all !  a  dainty  little  girl.  I  looked  at  her  a 
long  time ;  she  had  on  a  white  hood  and  coat.  "Good 
146 


LETTEES  AND  LETTEE  WETTING 

morning/'  I  said  and  stooped  over  to  kiss  her.  But 
would  you  believe  it  ?  that  very  minute  she  was  gone, 
frightened  away  by  a  kiss  which  I  never  dreamed 
would  do  any  harm.  I  have  been  so  sorry  ever  since, 
because  I  know  she*will  never  come  back.  Who  do 
you  suppose  she  was?  She  was  Jack  Frost's  little 
child,  and  it  was  he  that  made  the  picture ;  but  I  can 
not  tell  you  any  more  about  it  now.  I  shall  write  to 
you  again  soon  and  tell  you  of  a  snow  scene  we  had 
last  week.  Give  my  love  to  all. 

Your  sincere  cousin,  EMILY. 

a.  After  reading  the  above  letter,  write  the  one  to 
which  you  think  it  might  have  been  an  answer.  Also, 
write  the  letter  that  might  have  followed  this  one, 
describing  the  snow  scene  promised. 

ALASKA. 
My  dear  Clyde: — 

Would  you  like  to  come  visit  us  ?  You  would  have 
a  fine  time.  I  could  take  you  riding  on  my  sled  made 
of  walrus  bones.  My  dogs  go  very  fast  over  the 
sparkling  snow.  Our  house  is  an  odd  looking  mound 
of  stone.  It  has  two  openings  in  it,  a  door  and  a 
window.  We  do  not  have  a  furnace  as  you  have; 
but  we  are  heated  by  a  lamp  which  has  a  shallow 
plate.  Mamma  cooks  the  food  on  this  plate.  I  know 
things  must  be  different  in  your  country.  Will  you 
write  me  a  letter  and  tell  me  how  you  live?  Come 
and  see  me.  Your  Alaska  friend,  SIPSU. 


147 


LETTEKS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

b.  Answer  the  above  letter,  giving  Sipsu  as  good  a 
picture  of  your  life  as  he  has  given  you  of  his. 

January  24,  1902. 
Dear  Friend: — 

This  morning  I  noticed  the  snowflakes  coming 
down.  They  were  fluffy  and  soft.  Before  some  of 
them  reached  the  ground  they  danced  and  whirled 
and  fluttered  about  lazily,  as  if  they  were  in  no  hurry 
to  come  down.  Some  of  them  came  down  zigzag. 
Some  of  them  hovered  in  the  air.  They  made  me 
think  of  the  leaves  in  autumn  and  the  snowbirds  in 
the  winter.  Have  you  ever  watched  the  snowflakes 
coming  down?  Isn't  it  a  pretty  sight?  To-night  I 
am  going  to  play  snow-ball  on  the  sidewalk  in  front  of 
our  house.  I  have  a  nice  sled,  too,  and  I  am  going  to 
take  Fred  on  it  up  the  hill  and  let  him  slide  down. 
I  love  winter  for  its  fun.  I  hope  you  do,  too.  Please 
write  soon  to  your  devoted  friend,  A.  J. 

c.  Answer  the  above  letter. 

d.  Correspond  with  Gemila,  the  child  of  the  des- 
ert, and  in  exchange  for  her  account  of  her  climate 
and  surroundings  tell  her  in  separate  letters  the  fol- 
lowing points : 

(i)   How  the  snow  looks  and  how  it  comes  down, 
(ii)  How  the  earth  looks  when  it  is  covered  with 

snow. 

(iii)  What  plays  you  have  with  the  snow. 
(iv)  What  ice  is.    How  it  looks. 
148 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

(v)  What  plays  you  have  on  ice. 
(vi)  If  it  is  true  that  you  can  make  ice  in  sum- 
mer. 

(vii)   What  you  enjoy  most  about  snow  and  ice. 
(viii)   How  you  skate. 
e.  Tell  her  of  Jack  Frost: 

(i)   As   painter,    designer,   and   carver   on   the 

window  panes, 
(ii)  As  a  player  of  pranks  and  a  performer  of 

feats, 
(iii)   As    assistant   in   preparing   the   earth   for 

sports, 
(iv)   As  a  useful  agent  in  making  the  soil  ready 

for  the  seeds. 
/.  Speak  of : 

(i)  The  breaking  up  of  the  ice  periods  as  shown 

in  the  streets. 

(ii)   The   miniature   river   systems   and   glacial 
forms  seen  in  the  streets  after  the  frozen 
water  has  commenced  to  melt, 
(iii)  Note  the  power  of  the  water  to  carry  sand 

and  earth. 

(iv)  The  frost-foliage  everywhere, 
(v)   The  sounds  peculiar  to  cold  weather, 
(vi)   Cold-weather  signs  that  can  be  detected  by 

the  eye. 

(vii)  The  animal  life  visible, 
(viii)  The  trees  in  winter. 

g.  (From   Saint  Nicholas.)     Jing-a-ling,   jing-a- 
ling.      Whoa!     Prancer.    Whoa!    Dancer.     Let  me 
149 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

drop  this  letter  for  Miss 'a  children  into  the  box. 

Here's  what  I've  said  to  them : 

Dear  Little  Boys  and  Girls: — 

So  you  are  looking  for  me  Xmas  morning.  I'll 
not  disappoint  you.  Did  I  forget  Picciola?  Your 
eyes  are  as  bright  as  hers,  and  you  will  not  fail  to  find 
what  I  bring  for  you  to  love. 

I'll  ring  the  Xmas  bells,  too,  that  you  may  hear 
the  song  the  angels  sang  of  "Peace  on  Earth — Good 
Will  to  Men." 

And  now  a  "Merry,  Merry  Xmas  to  you  all." 
Your  loving  friend, 

SAINT  NICHOLAS. 

4.    JOURNALS. 

a.  A  weather  record  of  the  winter  months. 

&.  Write  leaves  from  an  imaginary  journal  of  a 

raindrop,  telling  of: 
(i)  Its  encounter  with  the  heat,  the  cold,  the 

wind; 

(ii)  Its  sail  in  the  clouds  and  what  it  saw; 
(iii)   Its  fall  to  earth  and  what  then  became  of  it; 
(iv)  Its  final  meeting  with  another  drop  from 
another  part  of  the  country,  giving  its 
different  experiences. 

c.  Imagine  that  you  are  visiting  in  the  arctic  re- 
gions and  make  journal  entries  of  what  im- 
presses you  most.  (Get  your  ideas  from  the 
Geography  and  The  Seven  Little  Sisters.) 


150 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

5.  AUTOBIOGRAPHIES. 

Write  the  autobiography  of  a  lump  of  coal. 
Of  a  Christmas  tree. 

Of  some  hibernating  animal. 

•^ 

6.  SUGGESTIVE  READING. 

Archibald — Story  of  the  Atmosphere. 
Buckley — Fairyland  of  Science.     Two  great 

Sculptors — water,  ice. 
Burroughs — Signs  and  Seasons.    Snow  storm, 

pp.  99-107. 
Bryant — The  Snow  Storm.     (See  his  Wind 

and  Sea  poems.) 
Cheney — Winter. 

Chambers — The  Story  of  the  Weather. 
Emerson — The  Snow  Storm. 
Harrington — About  the  Weather. 
Longfellow — Snow  Flakes. 
Lovejoy — Poetry  of  the  Seasons.    (See  Index 

to  Saint  Nicholas.) 
Tyndall — Forms    of    Water   in    Clouds    and 

Rivers. 
van  Dyke — Nature  for  Its  Own  Sake. 

III.— SPRING. 

.     .     .     Earth  is  a  wintry  clod: 
But  spring-wind.,  like  a  dancing  psaltress,  passes 
Over  its  breast  to  waken  it.,  rare  verdure 
Buds  tenderly  upon  rough  banks,  between 
151 


LETTERS  AND  LETTEE  WRITING 

The  withered  tree  roots  and  the  cracks  of  frost, 

Like  a  smile  striving  with  a  wrinkled  face. 

The  grass  grows  bright,  the  loughs  are  swoln  with 

blooms 

Like  chrysalids  impatient  for  the  air, 
The  shining  dorrs  are  busy,  beetles  run 
Along  the  furrows,  ants  make  their  ado; 
Above,  birds  fly  in  merry  flocks,  the  lark 
Soars  up  and  up,  shivering  for  very  joy; 
Afar  the  ocean  sleeps;  white  fishing  gulls 
Flit  where  the  strand  is  purple  with  its  tribe 
Of  nested  limpets;  savage  creatures  seek 
Their  loves  in  wood  and  plain — and  God  renews 
His  ancient  rapture.    Thus  he  dwells  in  all, 
From  life's  minute  beginnings,  up  at  last 
To  man — the  consummation  of  this  scheme 
Of  being,  the  completion  of  this  sphere 
Of  life;-" 

BROWNING  ;  Paracelsus. 

1.    THINGS  TO  BE  OBSERVED  : 

a.  Signs  of  spring  everywhere. 

b.  The  return  of  the  birds. 

c.  The  passage  of  the  wild  geese. 

d.  The  mounting  of  the  sap. 

e.  The  bursting  of  the  buds. 
/.  The  pussy-willows. 

g.  The  blooming  wild  flowers. 
h.  The  new-born  (butterfly)  moth. 
i.  The  appearance  of  the  hibernating  animals 
from  their  winter  quarters. 
152 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WEITING 

j.  Birds  nesting. 

k.  Seed-sowing  in  garden  and  farm. 
/.  Sugar-making, 
ra.  Tree-planting  (Arbor  Day  a  fine  time  for  the 

study  of -trees  and  their  legends). 
n.  The  new-born  lambs. 
o.  The  Easter  thought  everywhere  in  the  return 

of  light  and  the  newly-awakened  life. 
p.  The  myths  of  Proserpina,  of  Freya,  of  Psyche. 
q.  The  legends  of  the  spring  flowers. 
r.  The  waters  bursting  their  icy  bounds. 
s.  The  earth  putting  on  her  green  covering. 
t.  The  gladness  of  nature  everywhere.   The  true 

joys  of  living  (see  Lowell's  "And  what  is  so 

rare  as  a  day  in  June"). 

2.  BEAD  THE  FOLLOWING  LETTERS  IN  PART  I : 
From :  Page 

Coventry  Patmore 28 

William   Cowper 78 

Charles   Lamb 44 

Maria  White 77 

3.  LETTER  ASSIGNMENTS. 

March  7,  1902. 
Dear  Bluebird: — 

Good  morning!  Welcome  back!  We  heard  your 
happy  note  in  the  old  maple-tree  this  morning.  We 
looked  out  and  saw  that  your  feathers  were  as  blue 
as  they  were  last  year  and  that  you  flitted  about  and 
chatted  with  your  mate  just  as  gaily  as  you  did  then. 
153 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

Have  you  had  a  pleasant  winter?  Will  you  tell  us 
something  about  it?  Do  build  near  our  school! 
We  will  bring  you  crumbs  and  grain  in  return  for 
your  sweet  songs. 

YOUR  LOVING  FRIENDS  IN  ROOM  E. 

a.  Answer  the  above  letter  for  the  Bluebird,  and 
tell  the  students  what  they  wished  to  hear  about  your 
winter  South. 

Dear  friend  Carrie: — 

I  am  going  to  tell  you  my  dream.  I  dreamed  that 
my  legs  were  changing  and  my  hair  was  all  coming 
out,  and  that  my  wings  were  coming  out.  I  thought 
I  was  flying  around  the  fields  and  the  little  boys  and 
girls  were  chasing  me.  Then  the  spring  mother 
called  me,  but  I  did  not  want  to  come.  The  wind  be- 
gan to  blow  and  seemed  to  say,  "Get  up,  Get  up!" 
When  I  came  out  I  saw  that  my  dream  was  true.  I 
will  close.  Yours  truly,  THE  BUTTERFLY. 

&.  Use  the  above  letter  for  a  suggestion  and  write  a 
wild  flower's  dream. 

My  dear  little  Elizabeth: — 

So  you  have  found  your  first  butterfly,  and  it  was 
all  yellow!  I  am  glad,  dear.  It  is  always  good  to 
find  a  yellow  butterfly.  People  are  so  absurd !  They 
think  caterpillars  turn  into  butterflies ! 

I'll  tell  you  how  it  is.  When  a  pure  loving  deed 
is  done,  with  no  thought  of  self,  a  butterfly  is  born. 
If  one  thinks  of  self  a  little,  it  makes  a  moth,  of 
154 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

course,  and  everybody  knows  selfish  deeds  make  mos- 
quitoes and  flies. 

One  day,  out  by  Fall  Creek,  I  saw  so  many  butter- 
flies— little  yellow  ones — those  are  the  kind  things 
you  do  to  children^  you  know — orange  ones,  beautiful 
red  ones,  lovely  purple  ones,  bright  blue  ones,  all 
busy  and  happy  together.  What  fairies  do  for  the 
poor  garden  flowers,  butterflies  do  for  all  the  free 
flowers  of  the  fields.  I  liked  to  think  how  many 
kind  people  there  must  be  in  your  part  of  town,  and 
watched  as  I  came  home  to  see  where  they  stopped, 
for  you  know  these  deed  children  come  back  often 
to  bless  their  makers,  and  like  to  watch  over  them  at 
night. 

As  the  butterflies  fluttered  along  together,  one  flew 
off  one  way  and  one  another,  and,  Elizabeth,  I  saw 
one  fly  over  to  your  house.  It  was  a  beautiful  blue 
one,  so  I  thought  maybe  it  was  something  you  did 
for  Grandma.  A  good  many  came  to  that  little 
house  on  the  corner  covered  with  honeysuckle  and 
clematis  and  morning-glory  vines.  An  old  man  and 
little  boy  sat  close  together  on  the  doorstep.  I  asked 
him  if  he  made  all  those  butterflies.  He  said  he  was 
only  a  poor  cobbler  who  could  not  do  half  as  much 
as  he  wished  for  any  one;  that  the  butterflies  loved 
his  flowers  and  gave  him  great  pleasure  by  coming. 
But  after  he  went  in  the  little  boy  told  me  that  some- 
times when  he  waked  in  the  moonlight,  he  saw  but- 
terflies hovering  around  Grandpa's  head,  and 
Grandpa  smiled  in  his  sleep. 

Your  loving  friend,  ALICE  CHAPIN, 

155 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

c.  Write  a  letter  to  Miss  Chapin,  thanking  her  for 
the  beautiful  story  in  the  above  letter.  Tell  her  of 
a  story  of  something  else  that  you  have  heard. 

SOUTH  BEKWICK,  MAINE, 

March  21,  1902. 
My  dear  Children  of  the  Grammar  Schools: 

One  of  your  friends  has  written  me  that  you  have 
read  my  story  of  Sylvia  and  the  little  white  heron 
and  have  liked  it.  You  can  not  know  how  much 
pleasure  this  news  gives  me  if  I  do  not  write  and 
tell  you,  so  I  give  you  my  best  thanks,  now,  and  my 
kindest  wishes. 

I  should  like  very  much  to  know  what  each  one  of 
you  liked  best  in  the  story  and  what  seemed  to  you 
the  best  part  of  it,  and  if  you  think  Sylvia  would 
always  be  glad  because  she  had  been  the  heron's 
friend?  I  am  sure  that  you  do  think  so,  as  the 
writer  of  the  story  did.  You  see  that  the  best  thing 
in  the  world  is  to  be  self -forgetful,  and  Sylvia  was 
just  that  when  she  took  care  of  the  bird. 

I  wish  that  I  knew  whether  you  know  the  different 
kinds  of  birds  that  live  near  you,  and  how  many  you 
have  learned  to  know  by  sight  or  by  their  songs, 
for  even  if  you  live  in  a  large  city  like  Indianapolis 
you  must  have  many  birds  for  neighbors.  Some  of 
you  may  have  seen  very  strange  and  interesting  birds, 
when  you  have  been  away  from  home,  or  have  seen, 
what  is  still  better,  something  very  interesting  about 
the  birds  that  live  in  the  trees  that  you  know  best. 


156 


LETTEES  AND  LETTEE  WEITING 

Perhaps  you  will  each  write  a  letter  to  tell  me !    Be- 
lieve me  always, 

Yours  affectionately, 

SARAH  ORNE  JEWETT. 

d.  Answer  Miss  Jewett's  letter  and  tell  her  of  the 
spring  birds,  what  ones  you  know  and  when  they 
usually  come.     Write  a  letter  that  will  interest  her 
in   your   surroundings.     Mention   the   story   of   the 
White  Heron,  as  she  asks  you  to  do. 

e.  Write  an  imaginary  letter  from  the  grass,  in 
which  it  tells  of  the  visits  made  it  by  the  sun,  the 
rain,    and   the   winds.      (For   suggestion,    read   the 
poem:   The  Voice  of  the  Grass.) 

f.  Write  an  invitation  to  the  country  to  some  town- 
lover.     Picture  country  joys  in  such  a  way  that  he 
will  wish  to  come. 

g.  Imagine  that  you  are  a  wild  fowl  in  passage,  and 
write  a  letter  to  some  one  telling  of  your  flight  and 
what  you  see  below  you. 

h.  Write  a  letter  to  the  person  (if  living)  for 
whom  you  wish  to  name  your  tree  on  spring  Arbor 
Day,  and  ask  his  permission  to  name  the  tree  for  him. 
Tell  him  why  you  selected  the  certain  tree.  (See 
fall  Arbor  Day.) 

i.  Write  to  a  friend  in  the  country  and  tell  of  the 
games  played  by  a  child  in  the  city  in  springtime. 

/.  Tell  the  story  of  Psyche  in  a  letter  to  some 
friend. 


157 


LETTEKS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

5.  JOURNALS  FOR  SPRING  AND  SUMMER  MONTHS. 

a.  Weather  record.     (See  fall  assignment.) 

b.  Notes  upon  birds  nesting  (giving  detail). 

c.  Write  leaves  from  a  farmer  boy's  journal,  dur- 
ing crop-planting,  garden-making,  sugar-making. 

d.  Note  the  dates  upon  which  you  see  the  first 
spring  birds;  see  how  many  come  to  your  vicinity; 
try  to  catch  their  calls  and  imitate  them  if  you  can. 

e.  Note  the  dates  of  the  appearance  of  the  differ- 
ent spring  flowers.    Keep  the  record  for  a  permanent 
calendar.     (See  Thoreau's  journal  of  spring  in  Mas- 
sachusetts.) 

/.  Note  the  great  events  and  the  birthdays  of  great 
men  that  occur  in  the  respective  months. 

g.  Note  all  the  signs  of  the  season  that  you  see  in 
nature  and  in  human  life. 

h.  Write  entries  of  a  day's  fishing,  of  a  wild  flower 
hunt,  of  going  swimming,  going  boating. 

i.  Read  Burns's  poem  on  the  field-mouse  and  give 
an  imaginary  leaf  from  its  journal  at  plowing  time. 

6.  SUGGESTIVE  READING. 

Adams — Through  the  Year  with  the  Poets. 

Bryant — The  Gladness  of  Nature,  An  Invi- 
tation to  the  Country,  March,  The  Yellow 
Violet. 

Burroughs — The  Bluebird:  Scribner's,  Au- 
gust, 1873. 

Emerson — The  Ehodora,  Mayday. 

Hunt — In  April. 

Larcom — The  Sister  Months. 
158 


LETTEES  AND  LETTEE  WEITING 

Longfellow — An  April  Day. 

Lowell — The  Dandelion,  and  What  Is  so  Rare 
as  a  Day  in  June  ? 

Whittier — First  Flowers. 

Wordsworth — To  the  Small  Celandine,  The 
Daffodils,  The  First  Swallow. 
From  St.  Nicholas — When  the  Apple  Blos- 
soms Stir,  Waiting  for  May,  Forward 
March,  The  Bluebird's  Song,  Waiting  to 
Grow,  Daffy  Down  Dilly,  Ready  for  Duty. 

See  Wisconsin  Free  Library  Commission  for 
Suggestions  for  Nature  Study. 


159 


CHAPTER   II 

LETTERS  CHARACTERIZED  BY  THE  USE  OF 
THE  DIFFERENT  DISCOURSE-FORMS 

7.    LETTERS  IN  WHICH  THE  USE  OF  TEE 
NARRATIVE  IS  PROMINENT. 

1.  READ  THE  FOLLOWING  LETTERS  IN  PART  I : 
From :  Page 

Hans  Andersen 16 

Lydia  Maria  Child 24 

Charles  Kingsley 26 

Alice  Chapin  (Part  II) 154 

Sidney  Lanier 17 

John  Burroughs 20 

2.  LETTER  ASSIGNMENTS. 

CAMBRIDGE,  MASS., 

November  8,  1902. 
Dear  Children: — 

Are  you  really  interested  in  my  life?  and  do  you 
really  wish  to  hear  my  story  so  much  ?  Well,  I  have 
not  always  been  an  Arm-Chair  as  I  am  now.  I  can 
remember  when  I  was  a  tree  near  the  blacksmith 
shop  and  my  branches  bent  over  it  and  covered  it 
with  its  beautiful  green  leaves.  The  bees  came 
among  my  leaves  and  made  me  happy  and  my  blos- 
160 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

soms  filled  the  air  with  sweet  fragrance.  In  the 
autumn  when  I  had  on  my  satin  burs,  the  children 
used  to  call  out,  "Oh,  the  chestnuts  are  falling," 
and  they  would  gather  them  and  take  them  home, 
and  the  mother  wotlld  say,  "Where  did  you  get  the 
chestnuts  ?"  and  the  children  would  answer,  "Oh,  the 
grand  old  tree  gave  them  to  us." 

I  never  shall  forget  the  smith  when  I  was  to  be 
cut  down.  He  wept  very  bitterly;  but  the  school 
children  of  Cambridge  paid  some  man  to  make  me 
into  an  arm-chair,  as  you  see  me  now,  for  the  poet. 
I  was  given  to  him  on  his  birthday,  and  old  and 
white-haired  as  he  was,  he  felt  like  a  youth  again. 
My  life  has  been  a  very  happy  one  and  all  because 
of  the  poet  who  sang  of  me  when  I  was  a  young 
flourishing  tree.  Now  good-by,  I  am  glad  that  you 
asked  me  to  tell  you  about  myself. 
Your  friend, 

THE  OLD  ARM-CHAIR. 

a.  After  the  manner  of  the  above  letter  write  to 
some  one  in  the  name  of  the  Washington  Elm  at  Cam- 
bridge. 

&.  Use  the  following  data  for  stories  that  you  tell 
to  some  particular  person : 

(i)   Time:   Early  summer  evening  after  a  hard 

rain. 

Place :   Under  a  railroad  bridge  in  Illinois, 
three  miles  from  the  nearest  station. 


161 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

Chief    Personage:     A    boy    of    seventeen 

years. 
Circumstances:     The  young  man  noticed 

that  the  rain  had  loosened  a  pier  of  the 

bridge. 
Supply  setting;  fill  out  incident  and  invent 

an   ending   to   suit  yourself.     Write  to 

some  friend  of  the  event, 
(ii)  Time:    Early  evening. 

Place :    Front  doorstep  of  a  city. 

Persons:     A  lady  visitor  and  a  telegraph 

messenger. 
Circumstances :  The  boy  returns  to  the  lady 

a  five-dollar  gold  piece  which  she  through 

mistake  had  given  him  the  day  before,  for 

a  penny,  in  making  the  change. 

c.  Write  the  story : 

Of  the  petrified  Fern. 

Of  the  horse  in  The  Bell  of  Atri. 

Of  some  family  relic,  as  a  clock,  a  chest,  an  old 

spoon. 
Of  the  Poet's  Arm-Chair. 

d.  Write  from  Fredericksburg  in  the  time  of  Bar- 
bara Frietchie,  and  tell  her  story  as  if  you  had  been 
an  on-looker  as  she  waved  the  flag  out  the  window. 

e.  Reproduce  as  if  a  participant  in  the  event,  any 
one  of  the  following  selections : 

(i)  Paul  Revere's  Ride. 
162 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

(ii)  Horatius  at  the  Bridge. 

(iii)  Pheidippides  (by  Browning). 

(iv)  Echetlos  (by  Browning). 

(v)  Donald  (by  Browning),  also,  The  Pied 
Piper.  - 

(vi)  Hawthorne's  (Stories  from)  Twice  Told 
Tales,  The  Wonder  Boole,  Mosses  from  an 
Old  Manse. 

(vii)  Longfellow's  The  Wreck  of  the  Hesperus,*' 
The  Legend  Beautiful,  Birds  of  Killing- 
worth  ,  stories  from  Hiawatha. 
(viii)   See  Beasley's  stories  from  Rome;  Baldwin's 
stories    of    Siegfried    and    of    Roland; 
Southey's  The  Inchcape  Rock,  Kipling's/' 
The  Brushwood  Boy,  stories  from  the 
Bible,  from  the  Iliad  and  Odyssey;  War- 
ner's Hunting  of  the  Deer,  and  Ernest 
Thompson  Seton's  stories. 

(ix)  Whittier's  Nauhaught  the  Deacon,  Abraham 
Davenport,  Conductor  Bradley,  The 
Witch's  Daughter. 

(x)  Wordsworth's   Heart   Leap    Well,    We   are    • 
Seven. 


II.    LETTERS  CHARACTERIZED  BY  THEIR 
DESCRIPTIVE  QUALITY. 

1.    READ  THE  FOLLOWING  LETTERS  IN  PART  I : 

Page 

From  Robert  Gould  Sfyiw 30 

From  Shelley 86,  87 

163 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

From  James  Lane  Allen 37 

From  Lady  Mary  Wortley  Montagu. 84,  85 

From  James  Russell  Lowell 79 

The  group   of  letters   under   character 
appreciation 89-93 

2.    LETTER  ASSIGNMENTS. 

IN  THE  EASTERN  SKY 
Dear  little  children: — 

Did  you  know  that  in  the  morning  just  before  the 
sun  is  up,  I  rise  from  my  feathery  couch  and  place 
a  silvery  star  in  my  forehead  ?  Then  I  throw  a  robe 
of  fiery  clouds  around  my  shoulders  and  start  on  my 
journey  across  the  sky.  Now  it  is  a  little  lighter 
and  I  throw  open  wide  the  gates  of  dawn.  Then  in 
rolls  the  glistening  chariot  of  the  sun-god,  and  he  be- 
gins to  shout  to  his  shining  horses,  and  the  light  of 
them  brightens  up  the  dreary  earth  and  makes  every- 
thing happy.  Then  I  go  sailing  through  the  soft 
blue  air  to  be  ready  to  greet  the  sun-god  at  eventide, 
when  he  drives  into  the  western  gates  and  softly 
goes  to  rest.  Yours  truly, 

AURORA. 

a.  Imagine  that  you  are  Diana,  and  answer  the 
above  letter  from  Aurora.  Describe  your  nightly  sail 
in  the  sky  and  what  you  see. 

INDIANAPOLIS,  June  11, 1902. 
My  dear  Mr.  Steele: — 

Do  you  remember   Shakespeare's    Coriolanus?    I 
wonder  if  I  could  get  you  to  paint  for  me  a  picture 
164 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

of  a  woman  in  that  play !  The  woman  is  Volumnia, 
famous  in  history  as  a  Roman  mother.  It  was  she 
who  said,  "Had  I  a  dozen  sons,  each  in  my  love  alike 
and  none  less  dear  than  my  own  good  Marcius,  I  had 
rather  eleven  die  nobly  for  their  country  than  one 
voluptuously  surfeit  out  of  action."  Do  you  think 
you  can  paint  the  portrait  of  a  woman  capable  of 
saying  such  words  ? 

I  have  pictured  her  in  my  mind  as  tall  and  erect, 
strong  and  perfectly  formed.  Every  feature  in  your 
picture  should,  I  think,  express  action  and  energy, 
every  curve  and  muscle  strength  and  vitality.  The 
head  (for  that  is  the  most  important  of  all)  must  be 
poised  in  such  a  way  as  to  express  the  utmost  dignity 
and  pride.  Do  not  paint  the  face  of  a  Madonna. 
No,  my  Volumnia  must  bear  the  stamp  of  a  hero ;  she 
was  a  patrician  of  the  highest  rank  and  her  features 
must  show  their  noble  lineage.  The  hair  must  be 
dark  gray  and  very  abundant,  falling  over  the  shoul- 
ders. How  can  I  describe  the  face?  It  must  be 
neither  too  delicate  nor  too  harsh  and  manly;  but 
that  of  a  strong,  noble  woman  capable  of  the  tenderest 
affection.  The  forehead  is  high  and  purely  patri- 
cian, and  the  eyes  are  a  beautiful  gray,  as  clear  and 
bright  as  an  eagle's,  capable  of  showing  pride,  anger 
and  determination,  and  again  capable  of  sending 
forth  the  light  of  love.  The  nose  and  mouth  are 
typically  Roman.  You  will  paint  her  in  the  loose 
garment  worn  by  the  Roman  matrons.  It  will  be  in 
oils,  of  course,  and  about  two-thirds  of  life  size. 


165 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

Entrusting  all  other  details  to  your  own  judgment, 
I  am  most  sincerely  yours, 

F.  L. 

&.  Using  the  above  letter  for  suggestion  write  to 
some  artist  ordering  a  picture  of : 
Some  landscape. 
Some  historic  scene. 
An  illustration  of  some  sentiment. 
Of  some  homestead. 
Of  some  friend. 

c.  Describe  in  a  letter  to  a  friend  the  face  of  your 
father,  of  your  mother,  your  own  face  as  you  see  it  in 
the  glass,  the  face  of  your  friend. 

d.  Write  your  parents  a  description  of  your  school- 
room. 

e.  Write  your  teacher  a  description  of  your  room. 

/.  Describe  your  feelings  when  you  do  good  work; 
when  your  teacher  looks  pleased  over  your  work. 

g.  Describe  the  finest  horizon  line  in  your  land- 
scape, or  down  a  street. 


166 


LETTERS  AND  LETTEE  WRITING 


///.    LETTERS  EXPLANATORY  IN  CHAR- 
AGTER 

LETTER  ASSIGNMENTS, 

At  Home, 

3  January,  1902. 
Dear  Helen : — 

Have  you  had  anything  new  at  your  school  lately  ? 
We  have.  We  are  explaining  maxims  by  applying 
them  to  life.  I  guessed  five  that  were  written  up  the 
other  day ;  but  nobody  guessed  mine.  Can  you  guess 
it?  Here  it  is.  In  Athens  there  was  a  young  man, 
named  Alcibiades,  who  was  very  rich.  He  was  also 
very  handsome,  and  was  loved  by  the  people  of 
Athens.  After  he  had  won  the  confidence  of  the 
Athenians  and  had  even  succeeded  in  making  plans 
for  the  capture  of  several  cities  in  Sicily,  he  turned 
traitor,  and  showed  the  enemy  how  to  upset  the  plans 
of  the  Athenians;  so  in  his  case.  "  .  .  . 
What  is  the  maxim  that  belongs  in  the  blank  space? 
Make  me  out  a  maxim  to  guess.  Write  soon.  Write 
often  to  Your  devoted  friend, 

C.  E. 

a.  Answer  the  above  letter,  granting  the  request  of 
the  writer,  and  substituting  the  name  of  some  ac- 
quaintance instead  of  "C.  E." 

ft.  Use  the  following  maxims  for  suggestions  in 
writing  out  guesses  for  your  school-mates. 
(i)  Make  hay  while  the  sun  shines. 
167 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

(ii)  Birds  of  a  feather  flock  together, 
(iii)  A  thing  of  beauty  is  a  joy  for  ever, 
(iv)  In  union  there  is  strength. 

(v)  Those  who  live  in  glass  houses  ought  not  to 
throw  stones. 

c.  Write  to  some  friend  and  give  directions  for: 
playing  the  games  of  marbles ;  of  ball ;  of  puss  wants 
a  corner ;  of  hide  and  seek ;  of  thimble. 

d.  Write  to   some  one  giving  directions  how  to 
make  garden,  how  to  study. 

e.  Explain  to  some  one  younger  than  yourself  the 
meaning  of  a  word,  or  how  to  use  the  dictionary. 

/.  Write  an  account  of  a  magazine  article  that  you 
have  read;  of  a  book  that  you  have  read.  (Give  al- 
ways name,  publisher,  author,  or  volume  and  page 
of  magazine.) 

IV.    LETTERS  EMPLOYING  DISCUSSION 

My  dear  Teacher: — 

You  ask  me  to  write  you  a  letter  and  tell  you 
what  I  think  about  playing  marbles  for  keeps.  I  do 
not  think  we  ought  to  play  marbles  for  keeps,  be- 
cause it  is  the  same  as  gambling.  You  may  put  three 
marbles  in  and  another  boy  three,  and  as  luck  will 
have  it,  the  other  boy  gets  all  six  of  them.  He  is 
getting  something  for  nothing.  It  may  be  all  right 
168 


LETTERS  AND  LETTEE  WRITING 

for  the  one  who  wins,  but  he  is  not  getting  them  by 
toil  and  honesty. 

Some  boys  think  they  have  as  much  right  to  play 
marbles  for  keeps  as  they  have  to  eat;  but  it  is  gen- 
erally those  who  win.  I  think  that  when  boys  play 
marbles  for  keeps  they  are  only  getting  ready  for 
gambling  when  they  become  men. 

Yours  very  truly, 

L.  M. 
My  dear  Miss : — 

I  beg  leave  to  differ  with  L.  M.  I  think  we  should 
be  allowed  to  play  marbles  for  keeps.  Some  people 
think  it  is  gambling  and  say  it  is  all  luck.  I  think 
it  is  not  luck;  it  is  skill  in  shooting.  And  as  to 
getting  something  for  nothing,  it  is  not  easy  to  bend 
over  and  shoot  a  marble  straight.  And  if  you  are 
a  shot  good  enough  to  hit  when  you  shoot,  I  think  it 
all  right  to  take  the  other  man's  marbles.  This  is 
what  I  think.  There  may  be  two  sides;  but  I  am  on 
the  side  of  "keeps." 

Your  respectful  pupil, 

J.  T. 

Dec.  3,  1901. 
Dear  Karl: — 

Karl,  why  do  you  want  to  play  for  fun  ?  I  like  to 
play  for  keeps.  I  don't  care  if  I  do  lose  all  my 
marbles.  I  will  buy  some  more.  When  you  play 
for  fun  that  is  a  baby  game.  Keeps  is  a  big  boy's 
game.  Your  schoolmate, 

C.B. 
169 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

a.  Read  the  discussions  in  the  above  letters,  weigh 
them,  and  detect  the  weak  points  in  the  reasoning. 
Which  letter  does  not  touch  upon  the  question? 
Write  out  a  real  argument  for  the  side  that  you  are 
on,  in  a  letter  to  your  teacher.  Try  to  get  at  the 
heart  of  the  matter.  Is  there  any  other  way  to  play 
for  keeps  besides  in  marbles  ? 

INDIANAPOLIS,  Feb.  21,  1902. 
My  dear  Friend: — 

Of  course  I  could  not  say  what  the  man  said  who 
convinced  the  people  that  it  was  wrong  to  kill  the 
song  birds.  I  know  what  I  think  about  it.  It  seems 
to  me  the  birds  would  look  quite  as  pretty  in  the 
trees  as  they  would  on  women's  hats.  I  think  it 
would  be  better  to  let  the  birds  live,  because  then  you 
could  see  their  beautiful  feathers  and  could  also  hear 
their  lovely  songs,  while,  if  they  are  killed,  their 
feathers  can  only  be  seen  on  women's  hats.  Then  all 
the  song  is  gone,  and  the  feathers  do  not  look  half 
so  nice  on  a  hat  as  they  do  on  the  birds. 

Your  loving  friend, 

F.D. 

&.  F.  D.  was  asked  to  tell  in  the  above  letter  what 
he  thought  the  speaker  said  in  his  plea  for  the  life  of 
the  birds.  Will  you  write  to  some  mate  and  make 
a  plea  using  other  points  than  those  given  by  F.  D.  ? 


170 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

816  N.  NEW  JERSEY  ST., 

INDIANAPOLIS,  INDIANA. 
Dear  Father: — 

Your  letter  was  a  great  disappointment  to  me,  for 
I  thought  that  yeu  would  consider  the  profession  I 
had  chosen  one  that  was  particularly  well  suited  for 
me;  but  instead  you  offer  the  strongest  objections. 
You  say  that  you  are  surprised  that  I  should  choose 
a  profession  which  is  so  overcrowded  and  one  in 
which  it  is  almost  impossible  for  a  young  inex- 
perienced physician  to  gain  a  good  practice.  I  can 
but  think  that  the  world  will  always  recognize  a  man 
or  woman  who,  by  his  ability,  shows  that  he  is  de- 
serving of  recognition.  It  is  only  in  recent  years 
that  women  have  taken  up  the  study  of  medicine,  and, 
therefore,  the  field  for  lady  doctors  can  not  be  over- 
crowded. 

You  tell  me  that  there  are  many  occupations  which 
are  better  suited  for  a  woman  than  that  of  a  doctor. 
It  seems  to  me  that  a  woman  is  admirably  suited  for 
that  profession  if  she  has  a  cheerful,  willing  disposi- 
tion and  if  she  be  careful  and  confident  of  herself. 
A  woman  can  enter  into  almost  any  occupation  with- 
out losing  any  of  her  womanliness.  It  is  the  woman 
that  makes  an  occupation  suitable  for  her  and  not 
the  occupation  that  mars  her  character. 

I  can  not  agree  with  you  that  there  is  no  need  of 
lady  doctors.  I  had  occasion  recently  to  speak  to 

Dr. about  this  very  subject.     I  asked  him  if  he 

could  give  any  reason  why  a  woman  should  not  be  a 

doctor;  he  said,  "I  can  not,  but  I  can  give  you  many 

171 


LETTERS  AND  LETTEE  WETTING 

reasons  why  there  should  be  women  physicians."  He 
said,  also,  that  there  was  an  increasing  demand  for 
lady  doctors.  It  has  been  found  that  they  are  very 
successful  in  treating  women  and  children.  And 
again,  a  woman  has  an  opportunity  of  choosing  any 
branch  of  this  profession  and  specializing  on  that. 
Father,  I  hope  you  will  reconsider  your  decision  and 
examine  this  question  from  every  side.  With  much 
love,  I  am,  as  ever,  Your  daughter, 


c.  Using  the  above  letter  for  suggestion,  write  to 
some  friend  who  is  interested  in  your  future  career, 
from  any  one  of  the  following  situations,  proving  the 
wisdom  of  your  choice  of  a  life-work. 

(i)  A  professional  career,  as  lawyer,  as  doctor, 
as  preacher. 

(ii)  The  life  of  a  sailor,  a  miner,  a  missionary, 
an  actress. 

(iii)   The  life  of  a  farmer,  or  a  dairyman. 

(iv)  A  rich  young  person  wishes  to  be  self-sup- 
porting. Give  his  arguments  in  an  im- 
aginary letter  to  his  father. 

d.  Exchange  letters  with  your  mates  and  discuss 
therein  any  of  the  following  questions : 

(i)   Examinations  should  be  abolished.  » 
(ii)  All  students  should  have  hand-work, 
(iii)  Foot-ball  is  a  game  not  suited  to  the  graded 
schools. 


172 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

(iv)  The  curfew  is  not  a  benefit  in  the  enforce- 
ment of  law  and  order. 

(v)  The  English  sparrows  in  our  cities  should  be 
killed. 

(vi)  It  is  right  (or  wrong)  to  inform  on  a  school- 
mate. 

(vii)  Congress  should  make  an  attempt  upon  the 
life  of  our  chief  executive  an  act  of  high 
treason. 

(viii)  Only  "Union  men"  should  be  employed  in 
labor. 

(ix)  Make  an  appeal  to  a  workingmen's  club  in 
favor  of  education. 

(x)  Write  a  letter  to  girls  in  the  name  of  the 
Audubon  society,  against  wearing  birds 
on  hats.  (See  Firth's  Voices  of  the 
Speechless,  The  Winged  Hat,  The  Halo, 
pp.  227,  228.) 

(xi)  Write  an  appeal  in  behalf  of  some  historic 
object  about  to  be  destroyed. 


173 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 


V.    LETTERS  IN  WHICH  VARIETY  OF  EX- 
PRESSION IS  SECURED  WITH  REFER- 
ENCE TO  THE  SAME  SUBJECT 


(Narration) 

INDIANAPOLIS,  IND.,  Oct.  29,  1903. 
Dear  William: — 

I  heard  a  very  beautiful  story  of  friendship  to-day. 
It  was  the  story  of  Damon  and  Pythias. 

Dionysius  was  tyrant  and  the  king  of  Syracuse. 
There  were  many  plotters  against  his  life,  and  among 
them  Pythias,  who  was  caught  and  tried,  and  con- 
demned to  die. 

He  wished  to  see  his  little  son  and  beautiful  wife 
and  arrange  his  affairs ;  his  friend  Damon  offered  to 
stay  in  the  place  of  Pythias,  and  if  Pythias  did  not 
come  back  on  a  certain  time  limit  Damon  would  die 
in  his  place. 

Pythias  encountered  many  misfortunes  on  his  way 
to  and  from  his  home.  Damon  had  his  head  on  the 
executioner's  block  when  Pythias  rushed  in,  and  Da- 
mon's life  was  saved. 

Dionysius  was  so  astonished  at  such  friendship 
that  he  pardoned  Pythias  and  begged  to  be  admitted 
into  their  friendship,  and  Damon  and  Pythias  were 
firm  friends  after  this,  and  Dionysius  was  never 
again  tyrannical.  Yours  truly, 

R.  M. 
174 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 


(Description) 
Dear  William: — - 

I  will  continue  my  series  of  letters. 

When  Pythias  was  captured  he  was  brought  into 
the  court  by  two  guards  with  short,  heavy  broad- 
swords and  heavy  armor. 

Dionysius  sat  upon  his  high  throne,  and  the  prose- 
cutor sat  beside  a  clerk  or  scribe,  busily  writing. 

The  prosecutor  said,  "Is  the  cause  known  to  you 
for  which  you  are  to  be  tried  ?" 

Pythias  answered  him  not.  He  again  spoke,  say- 
ing, "You  are  arrested  on  the  charge  of  treason 
against  his  Majesty,  Dionysius  the  First,  of  Syracuse. 
It  would  hardly  be  thought  that  one  who  was  favored 
by  his  Majesty  should  want  to  rob  the  people  of  the 
sovereign  they  loved  so  well."  A  hiss  goes  up  from 
the  people  on  the  outside  hearing  this,  and  Dionysius 
frowns.  The  prosecutor  resumes  his  speech  and 
says,  "If  you  will  give  up  the  names  of  your  fel- 
low conspirators,  your  sentence  will  be  spared." 
Pythias  frowns  and  says,  "No,  I  will  not."  The 
prosecutor  says  to  Dionysius,  "He  will  not  disclose 
the  names  of  the  conspirators,"  and  to  Pythias  he 
says,  after  Dionysius  has  nodded,  "You  are  con- 
demned to  die.  If  at  any  time  from  now  till  to-mor- 
row, the  time  of  execution,  you  will  disclose  the 
names  of  the  other  conspirators,  your  life  will  be 
spared." 

175 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

Pythias  is  led  to  his  cell,  and  the  clerks  carefully 
put  away  the  writing  materials. 

I  shall  have  to  close.  Yours, 

G.  R.  M. 
3 

(Monologue) 
Dear  William: — 

I  will  again  take  up  my  pen,  which  is  in  very  bad 
condition,  to  write  you  what  Pythias  said  after  he  was 
condemned.  When  Pythias  had  been  taken  to  his 
dungeon  in  chains,  he  was  heard  to  say,  "The  tyrant 
will  die.  If  I  do  not  accomplish  my  duty  the  others 
will.  I  die  willingly,  but  oh !  how  will  my  wife  feel. 
When  I  think  of  her  all  alone  and  think  of  the  tears 
rolling  down  her  face — oh!  I  can  not  think  of  it. 
It  is  awful  to  think  of  my  little  son's  having  a  stigma 
on  his  name  and  my  home  confiscated  for  the  state. 
It  would  be  well  if  it  only  concerned  me.  Oh!  I 
must  see  them.  Fll  call  the  guard.  Guards,  go 
tell  Dionysius  that  I  wish  an  audience  with  him.  I 
must  see  my  family  and  bid  good-by  to  my  home 
for  ever." 

I  must  close,  for  my  time  is  nearly  gone. 

Yours  truly, 

G.  R. 
4 

(Dialogue) 
Dear  William: — 

When  Pythias  and  Damon  had  walked  to  a  little 
bower  Pythias  said,  "I  would  have  come  sooner  but 
176 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

my  horse  stumbled,  and  after  alighting  he  raised 
himself  up,  and  I  drove  with  all  my  strength  and  ar- 
rived home  about  the  midday.  I  arranged  my  affairs, 
bade  farewell  to  my  family  and  found  my  horse  dead. 
My  slave  had  kilted  it,  and  I  rushed  with  all 
strength  and  power  here,  and  when  on  the  outside 
of  the  court  I  saw  your  body,  for  in  excitement  I 
did  not  see  that  your  head  was  still  on  your  shoul- 
ders, I  thought  it  had  happened  and,  grabbing  a 
sword  from  one  of  the  soldiers,  I  rushed  at  Dionysius, 
but  before  I  had  reached  the  throne  I  saw  that  you 
were  alive  and  so  did  not  go  any  farther,  but  took 
your  place  on  the  block." 

Damon  said,  "I  would  gladly  have  given  my  life 
for  you  and  would  have  died  with  a  smile  on  my 
face,  but  I  knew  it  was  from  some  mishap  that  you 
were  not  there.  It  is  a  wonder  that  Dionysius  par- 
doned you.  But  I  must  now  hasten  home,  for  my 
mother  is  anxious  about  me." 

I  must  close,  for  the  time  is  almost  here. 

Yours  truly, 

R.  M. 

a.  Using  the  four  letters  preceding  for  suggestion, 
treat  any  one  of  the  following  stories  in  the  same 
way: 

Horatius  at  the  Bridge. 

Marcus  Curtius  leaping  in  the  Gulf  of  the  Fo- 
rum. - 
William  Tell. 


177 


LETTEES  AND  LETTEE  WETTING 

The  visit  of  Cyrus  to  the  court  of  his  grand- 
father. 

Sergeant  Jasper  at  Sullivan  Island. 

Arnold  von  Winkelried. 

Stories  from  the  Iliad,  the  Odyssey,  and  from 
mythology. 

1. 
Dear  Friend: — 

I  will  tell  you  a  little  story.  The  young  Persian 
prince  named  Cyrus  was  taught  as  other  boys  were  in 
the  custom  of  his  time  and  country.  He  was  only  a 
little  boy  when  he  learned  to  eat  cresses  and  bread  and 
water.  When  Cyrus  was  twelve  years  old  he  was  taken 
to  see  his  grandfather,  whose  name  was  Astyages. 

There  was  a  great  deal  of  splendor  in  his  grand- 
father's palace,  and  Cyrus  was  not  at  all  surprised. 
Once  when  a  great  feast  was  given,  he  took  the  place 
of  cup-bearer  and  put  the  white  napkin  on  his  shoul- 
der and  carried  the  tray  on  three  fingers  to  his  grand- 
father quite  properly,  but  he  forgot  one  little  cere- 
mony of  which  his  grandfather  told  him,  saying : 

"It  is  the  custom  for  the  cup-bearer  to  taste  the 
wine  before  it  is  given  to  the  king,  to  see  if  it  has 
been  drugged  or  poisoned."  Cyrus  said  gravely, 
"When  my  father  is  thirsty  he  drinks,  and  his  thirst 
is  quenched/' 

Dear  Helen,  I  thought  perhaps  you  would  like 
this,  so  I  told  you.  We  are  all  well  and  I  hope  you 
are,  too.  Yours  truly,  M E . 


178 


LETTERS  AKD  LETTER  WRITING 

2. 

My  dear  Son: — 

I  am  writing  to  you  to  tell  you  that  your  wife  and 
son  arrived  safely,  ancl  how  impressed  I  am  with  your 
son.  When  I  first  saw  him,  I  was  pleased  with  his 
comely  appearance.  After  hearing  him  talk  I  was 
still  more  pleased  because  of  the  wise  remarks  he 
made. 

I  gave  a  banquet  in  his  honor,  and  he  told  me 
that  the  Persians  could  get  enough  to  eat  for  one 
meal  with  a  great  deal  less  trouble.  After  hearing 
this  I  gave  him  the  food  to  give  to  my  officers.  He 
gave  some  to  all,  but  the  cup-bearer,  who  had  offended 
him  by  not  allowing  him  to  have  audience  with  me 
every  time  he  wished  to.  I  expressed  sorrow  at  his 
not  giving  the  cup-bearer  some  of  the  food,  because 
he  had  served  me  so  well.  Cyrus  says,  "I  will  serve 
you  as  well  as  he."  So  he  put  a  napkin  on  his 
shoulder,  and  carried  the  cup  with  such  grace  to  me, 
that  I  was  very  much  pleased.  ASTYAGES. 

I.  Using  the  story  of  Cyrus  as  a  basis: 
(i)  Answer  in  the  name  of  Astyages. 
(ii)   Let  Cyrus  write  home  to  his  father, 
(iii)  Let  Cyrus  write  to  his  grandfather  after  his 
return   home,  thanking  his  grandfather 
for  the  courtesy  shown  him  at  court. 
c.  In  connection  with  reading  of  the  Trial  of  Soc- 
rates : 

(Place  of  writing,  Athens,  in  the  time  of  Socrates.) 
179 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WETTING 

1st  letter.  An  account  of  Socrates  as  he  was 
known  by  his  friends. 

2d  letter.    Socrates  as  known  by  his  enemies. 

3d  letter.  Picture  the  scene  of  the  trial  of  Soc- 
rates. 

4th  letter.  Give  an  account  of  the  arguments 
made  by  Socrates  in  his  own  de- 
fense. 

5th  letter.  Tell  of  the  conversation  between 
Socrates  and  the  friends  who  visit 
him  in  the  prison. 

6th  letter.  After  all  is  over,  your  reflections 
upon  the  life,  belief  and  influence 
of  Socrates. 

See  Grote's  History  of  Greece,  Chap.  LXVIII,  Vol. 
VIII;  Lord's  Beacon  Lights  of  History,  pp.  208-214;  Cur- 
tius's  History  of  Greece,  Vol.  V.  See  index  to  points  in 
Larned's  History  for  ready  reference  and  topical  read- 
ing; World's  Best  Literature,  Vol.  XXIII;  Jowett's 
Translation  of  Plato — The  Apology,  The  Crito,  Xeno- 
phon's  Memorabilia. 


180 


CHAPTER  III 

LETTERS    DEALING    WITH    SOCIAL   RELA- 
TIONS 

I.    INVITATIONAL  LETTERS 

1.  READ  THE  FOLLOWING  LETTERS  IN  PART  I : 
From :  Page 

James  Russell  Lowell 41 

David  Masson 41 

Robert  Louis  Stevenson 42 

H.  W.  Longfellow  (acceptance) 43 

Henry  D.  Thoreau 43 

Charles  Lamb  (declination) 44 

William  Cowper  (declination) 46 

2.  LETTER  ASSIGNMENTS. 

AT  SCHOOL,  February  21,  1902. 
Dear  Mary: 

I  thank  you  for  your  note  asking  me  to  come  over 
to  see  you.  It  makes  no  difference  whether  you  were 
at  my  house  last  or  I  was  at  yours.  I  shall  be  glad  to 
come.  You  need  not  have  taken  the  trouble  to  say 
we  should  have  a  good  time.  We  always  have  a  good 
time  when  we're  together. 
181 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

I  generally  get  one  hundred  in  arithmetic  but  sel- 
dom in  spelling.  Good-by  till  I  come. 

Your  loving  friend, 

BEATRICE. 

a.  After  reading  the  above  note  carefully,  write 
such  a  note  of  invitation  to  Beatrice  as  you  think 
drew  forth  this  reply  from  her. 

AT  SCHOOL,  December  12,  1902. 
Mr.  James  Whitcomb  Eiley: 

Dear  Mr.  Riley: — Being  a  constant  and  delighted 
reader  of  your  poems,  I  consider  it  a  great  privilege 
to  write  to  you. 

I  am  a  member  of  Shortridge  High  School,  and  we1 
would  be  greatly  pleased  if  you  would  visit  us.  We 
feel  that  it  would  be  a  great  inspiration  to  have  our 
own  Hoosier  poet  speak  to  us,  or  better  still,  to  hear 
him  recite  his  poems. 

If  there  is  one  of  your  poems  I  like  better  than  an- 
other, it  is  Knee  Deep  in  June. 

"Month  a  man  Tcin  railly  love — 
June,  you  know,  I'm  talking  of." 

In  some  way  it  fascinates  me,  and  I  never  stop  with 
one  reading.  Another  poem  I  admire  so  much  is 
Griggsby  Station. 


182 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

"Let's  go  a  visitin'  lack  to  Griggsby's  station — 
Back  where  the  latch-string's  a-Jiangin'  from  the 

door, 

And  ever3  neighbor  round  the  place  is  dear  as  a  re- 
lation— 
Back  where  we  ust  to  be  so  happy  and  so  pore." 

It  is  so  true  to  life,  for  I  know  by  experience. 
Mr.  Riley,  I  wish  you  a  merry  Christmas  and  hope 
you  will  visit  Shortridge  soon.    I  am 
Yours  cordially, 


b.  Change  the  above  to  a  formal  invitation,  omit- 
ting unnecessary  detail.    (Let  it  be  in  the  third  per- 
son.) 

c.  Write  a  note  asking  some  prominent  citizen  to 
visit  your  school. 

d.  Write  a  note  inviting  your  teacher  to  spend  the 
evening  with  you. 

e.  Write    a   note    to    the    superintendent    of    the 
schools,  asking  him  to  the  exercises  at  your  school. 
Tell  him  what  you  are  to  have. 

/.  Write  a  formal  note  of  invitation  to  a  stranger 
visiting  your  neighborhood,  inviting  her  to  see  you  at 
a  stated  time  (a  formal  invitation  is  written  in  the 
third  person  and  omits  greetings  and  words  of  affec- 
tion). 

g.  Write  a  letter  to  a  pupil  in  a  school  in  some 
other  part  of  the  city ;  ask  him  to  visit  your  school, 
and  tell  him  of  the  interesting  things  to  be  seen  there. 
183 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

h.  Write  a  letter  to  your  mother,  asking  her  to 
visit  your  school. 

i.  Write  a  note  of  acceptance  to  an  invitation  to 
go  to  a  picnic. 

j.  Write  a  note  of  regret,  declining  to  spend  the 
night  away  from  home. 

fc.  Write  a  letter  asking  a  classmate  who  has 
stopped  school  to  come  back  to  school. 

I.  Write  a  note  of  invitation  to  a  friend  to  visit 
the  country. 

ra.  Write  to  a  friend  in  the  country  who  desires  to 
visit  the  city. 


II.    LETTERS  OF  ACKNOWLEDGMENT  AND 
SYMPATHY 

1.    READ  THE  FOLLOWING  LETTERS  IN  PART  I : 

From :  Page 

Dorothy  Stanley 49 

Charles  Dickens 55 

George  Eliot 57 

Lydia  Maria  Child 98 

Abraham  Lincoln 99 


184 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

2.    LETTER  ASSIGNMENTS. 

(Letter  of  Thanks) 

SCHOOL  No.  14, 
January  20,  1903. 

My  Dear  Miss : 

Our  teacher  asked  us  the  other  day  which  picture 
in  our  room  we  liked  the  best.  We  all  liked  the  one 

with  the  baby  Jesus  and  his  mother.    Miss said 

that  a  lady  who  loved  little  children  lent  it  to  her 

and  that  we  might  write  and  thank  her.    Miss 

loves  you  and  we  love  you,  too;  she  said  that  she  in- 
tended sending  you  the  best  letter.  I  hope  mine  will 
be  the  best,  so  that  I  can  send  it,  and  I  wish  that  you 
would  answer  it. 

Your  loving  friend, 


a.  Using  the  above  letter  as  a  suggestion,  write  a 
note  of  thanks  to  some  one  who  has  visited  your 
school  and  spoken  to  you  upon  the  birds  or  some  in- 
teresting topic,  or  extended  some  courtesy  to  you. 

&.  Acknowledge  the  receipt  of  books,  a  picture,  or 
some  gift  from  a  friend. 

c.  Write  a  letter  to  a  friend  whom  you  have  visit- 
ed, mentioning  your  enjoyment  of  your  visit  and  of 
the  courtesy  received. 

d.  Make   acknowledgments  to  some  literary  per- 
son of  the  pleasure  that  you  have  received  from  his 
writings. 

185 


LETTEES  AND  LETTEE  WEITING 

e.  Thank  some  friend  for  the  inspiration  that  you 
have  received  from  him. 

(Letter  of  Sympathy) 

AT  SCHOOL, 

INDIANAPOLIS,  IND.,  February  24,  1902. 
Dear  Count  Tolstoy: 

Yesterday  morning  our  teacher  was  reading  to  us 
your  story,  The  Long  Exile,  and  it  reminded  me  of 
your  long  exile  in  the  sick  room,  away  from  the  work 
and  the  people  that  you  love.  I  know  how  lonely  and 
cheerless  it  is,  for  I  have  lately  recovered  from  a  long 
illness  myself;  but  I  also  know  what  a  great  value 
friendship  is  to  one  at  this  time.  Flowers,  little 
notes,  or  messages  of  love  poured  in  upon  me,  and 
how  grateful  I  was  to  friends  who  did  not  forget  me 
in  the  midst  of  their  duties  and  pleasures. 

Shall  I  send  flowers  ?  Alas,  I  am  but  an  American 
girl  living  thousands  of  miles  away  from  you,  and 
the  blossoms  would  die  long  before  they  reached  you. 
But  a  note  can  be  sent,  and  it  will  tell  you  how  anx- 
iously we  look  at  the  papers  each  day  to  see  whether 
you  are  recovering,  and  how  heartily  we  wish  for 
your  return  to  health  and  strength.  Stories  that  tell 
of  simple,  honest  people,  who  realize  that  God  is 
"What  Men  Live  By,"  and  who  in  this  belief,  over- 
come temptations  and  do  good  to  their  neighbors,  can 
not  fail  to  help  those  who  read  them,  and  for  this 
reason,  if  for  no  other,  we  should  wish  you  to  live, 
that  the  world  may  have  more  of  those  stories  which 
186 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

lift  men  up  and  create  thoughts  too  deep  for  words. 
Among  the  many  of  your  readers  will  always  be  your 
sincere  admirer,  R.  M. 

/.  Write  to  R.  M.  in  the  name  of  Count  Tolstoy 
and  thank  her  for  ft£r  sympathy. 

g.  Write  a  note  of  sympathy  and  cheer  to  a  school- 
mate who  is  unavoidably  out  of  school. 

h.  Write  to  a  friend  who  has  met  some  loss  or  has 
had  some  accident. 

i.  Write  a  letter  to  some  person  who  has  at  some 
time  given  you  aid  or  inspiration. 

III.   LETTERS  OF  APPRECIATION 
1.     LETTER  ASSIGNMENTS. 

(The  Vicar  of  Wakefield.) 

INDIANAPOLIS,  IND.,  March  19,  1902. 
My  Dear  Dr.  Goldsmith: 

Many  thanks  for  the  pleasure  which  you  prepared 
for  us  when  you  wrote  The  Vicar  of  Wakefield. 
Our  America  is  different  from  England  at  the  time 
of  your  story,  with  no  debtors'  prison,  no  taverns  such 
as  those  which  your  characters  patronized,  and  not 
nearly  enough  men  like  Dr.  Primrose;  but  we  can 
appreciate  your  humor  and  the  vivid  pictures  of 
family  life. 

Anything  I  could  say  about  the  Vicar  would  prob- 
ably sound  foolish  to  you,  who,  having  created  him, 
187 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

know  a  hundred  times  more  about  him  than  I.  But 
I  wonder  what  you  consider  his  greatest  achievement. 
Of  course,  his  cheerfulness  and  strength  in  the  bitter- 
est adversity  were  admirable,  and  his  simplicity  and 
kindness  at  all  times  were  lovable;  but  to  me  the 
greatest  thing  he  did  was  to  win  the  respect  and  love 
of  his  fellow  prisoners  by  publicly  trying  to  reform 
them.  It  would  be  exceedingly  hard  to  find  another 
man  who  would,  in  the  first  place,  undertake  a  thing 
so  dangerous  to  his  dignity,  and  who  would  persevere 
in  his  plan  when  it  met  with  such  decisive  ridicule. 
He  showed  that  he  was  not  to  be  terrified  by  a  fear 
which  makes  cowards  of  nearly  all  of  us  in  these 
days — the  fear  of  being  laughed  at. 

One  of  the  touches  which  make  the  Vicar  dearer 
and  more  real  to  me  is  his  simple  shrewdness  in  up- 
setting the  face-wash  and  in  his  deciding  to  work  him- 
self into  a  passion  after  he  was  deceived  by  Jenkin- 
son. 

People  say,  Dr.  Goldsmith,  that  you  live  no  more  in 
this  world.  They  are  mistaken.  You  have  immortal 
life  here  in  Dr.  Primrose,  who  amuses  and  helps  more 
persons  than  many  another  more  pretentious  char- 
acter. Through  him  you  live  in  many  lives. 
Your  respectful  and  sincere  admirer, 

L.  M. 

a.  The  above  letter  is  written  after  the  manner  of 
Andrew  Lang's  Letters  to  Dead  Authors.  Read  of 
other  authors  in  this  book,  and  write  to  some  one  that 
you  have  studied. 

188 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

SHORTRIDGE  HIGH  SCHOOL, 
INDIANAPOLIS,  IND.,  December  10. 
Mr.  James  Whitcomb  Riley,  Indianapolis,  Indiana: 

Dear  Mr.  Riley: — We  Hoosier  people  feel  that 
you  belong  to  us  more  than  to  any  one  else,  and  as 
you  are  ours  we  have  the  privilege  of  writing  to  you 
when  and  of  what  we  will.  I  have  often  seen  you  on 
the  streets  of  Indianapolis,  but  at  the  time  you  were 
unconscious  of  being  stared  after.  Perhaps  you  were 
thinking  of  another  story  like  the  Boss  Girl. 

Do  you  know,  I  like  your  prose  stories  much  better 
than  your  poems.  I  hope  this  won't  shock  you,  as  it 
has  other  people  to  whom  I  have  mentioned  it.  The 
Boss  Girl  and  A  Christmas  Carol,  by  Dickens,  are 
the  best  Christmas  stories  I  have  ever  read.  I  can 
snuggle  up  in  a  comfortable  chair  before  a  nice  fire 
with  either  of  them  and  be  perfectly  happy.  I  like 
the  Boy  from  Zenni  and  Mary  Alice  Smith,  too, 
but  the  fact  is,  I  think  all  your  short  stories  are 
splendid.  The  Boss  Girl,  however,  is  my  favorite. 
I  often  wonder  if  you  really  did  meet  that  little 
newsboy  and  go  with  him  to  his  home.  If  you  did,  I 
envy  you.  Although  I  am  not  of  a  very  emotional  dis- 
position, I  cried  harder  at  the  death  of  "Sis"  than  I 
have  for  acquaintances  in  real  life.  She  and  "Jamsy" 
seemed  so  real  to  me  that  I  loved  them  both. 

Then  if  I  could  talk  with  you  I  would  ask  if  you 
really  ever  knew  a  "little  Mary  Alice  Smith,"  and  if 
there  was  any  truth  in  the  story,  A  Boy  from 
Zenni.  I  often  see  people  that  would  make  fine 
characters  for  books  and  wish  I  could  write  about 
189 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

them.  And  every  day  I  see  people  who  seem  to  have 
stepped  right  out  of  some  books  I  have  read.  Why 
there  are  modern  Micawbers  right  here  in  the  High 
School,  and  just  yesterday,  on  Washington  Street,  I 
saw  a  man  who  was  the  very  image  of  Fagin,  but  I 
hope  his  appearance  belied  his  real  character. 

There  are  a  great  number  of  things  I  would  like  to 
talk  to  you  about,  but  I  fear  it  would  give  me  more 
pleasure  than  it  would  you,  so  I  will  stop  writing  and 
think  the  rest. 

Your  admirer, . 

&.  Answer  this  in  the  name  of  Mr.  Riley: 

INDIANAPOLIS,  IND.,  January  17,  1902. 
My  dear  Dr.  van  Dyke : 

Since  I  write  to  you  as  a  champion  for  Tennyson's 
Sir  Galahad,  I  trust  you  will  interest  yourself  in 
this  letter.  The  Junior  class,  of  which  I  am  a  mem- 
ber, have  been  reading  and  studying  your  Tennyson. 
We  have  all  enjoyed  it  very  much,  but  I  think  it  quite 
time  for  a  champion  of  Sir  Galahad  to  appear. 

Most  of  the  pupils  in  the  class  said  that  they 
thought  Galahad  had  too  fine  an  opinion  of  himself 
and  that  he  considered  himself  too  high  for  the  poor 
mortals  of  this  earth.  I  appeal  to  you,  who  are  the 
champion  of  all  Tennyson's  characters !  Really,  poor 
Galahad  must  have  "turned  in  his  grave"  had  he 
heard  the  remarks  made  of  him.  True  it  is  that  he 
had  never  felt  a  maiden's  love  nor  held  her  hand,  yet 
that  was  not  because  he  considered  himself  too  good 
190 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

for  all.  He  was  held  by  a  mightier  hand,  his  devo- 
tion was  centered  in  a  holier  love  than  this  earth  af- 
fords. He  was  a  devotee  of  chivalry,  a  protector  of 
all  womanhood.  This,  it  seems  to  me,  is  the  true 
spirit.  And  then,  -Sir  Galahad  always  has  appeared 
to  me  as  a  veritable  emblem  of  gallantry,  so  light, 
earnest  and  devoted,  if  such  a  combination  is  possi- 
ble. 

So  I  appeal  to  you  to  set  to  rights  the  error  of  my 
comrades,  and  indeed  we  shoulpl  like  to  hear  from 
you.  I  am  your 

Devoted  reader  and  admirer, 

M.  K. 

c.  Answer  this  letter  from  M.  K. 


IV.  LETTERS  SHOWING  INTEREST  IN 
PUBLIC  AFFAIRS 

1.    LETTER  ASSIGNMENTS. 

GREAT  MEN  AND  CIGARS. 

To  the  Editor  of  the  News: 

Sir — I  have  recently  noticed  the  large  number  of 
cigars  called  by  the  name  of  distinguished  men. 
There  are  many  objections  to  attaching  the  names  of 
great  men  to  tobacco.  In  the  first  place,  it  reflects  on 
the  people  of  the  present  day,  because,  if  they  held 
these  great  men  in  proper  respect  and  admiration,  they 
would  not  permit  their  names  to  be  attached  to  any- 
thing so  demoralizing  as  tobacco.  We  see  the  names 
191 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

of  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  great  statesman  and  our 
martyred  president;  of  George  Childs,  the  great 
philanthropist ;  Thomas  Moore,  the  famous  poet,  and 
even  the  name  of  William  McKinley,  our  late  pres- 
ident, and  the  names  of  many  other  distinguished  and 
good  men  are  given  to  cigars.  Again,  it  reminds  us 
that  these  men  were  slaves  to  the  smoke  habit,  which 
cheapens  the  esteem  in  which  we  hold  them  and  in 
which  they  should  be  held  by  the  boys  of  to-day. 
They  think,  "Oh,  well,  if  Grant  and  Dewey  and  all 
these  great  men  smoked,  certainly  it  will  not  hurt 
us."  Surely,  for  regard  to  the  great  men  and  to  teach 
the  boys  to  hold  them  in  the  proper  esteem,  the  citi- 
zens of  Indianapolis  should  seriously  object  to  the 
use  of  the  names  of  famous  men  in  this  way,  and 
make  some  move  to  prevent  the  names  of  all  respected 
great  men  from  being  attached  to  cigars.  Hoping 
you  are  with  me  in  regard  to  this,  I  am  F.  B. 

a.  Using  the  above  letter  to  The  News  as  a  sug- 
gestion, write  an  open  letter  to  your  paper  on  any  of 
the  following  subjects : 

(i)   Care  for  shade  trees, 
(ii)   Care  for  streets, 
(iii)   The  smoke  ordinance  in  your  city, 
(iv)   The  distribution  of  handbills, 
(v)  The  character  of  public  advertisements, 
(vi)   The  fact  that  parents  do  not  visit  the  schools, 
(vii)   Courtesy  in  street  cars, 
(viii)   The  employment  of  child-labor  in  stores. 


192 


LETTERS  AKD  LETTER  WRITING 

(ix)   The  respect  due  shop  women, 
(x)   The  visiting  of  art  exhibits, 
(xi)   The  partiality  of  the  press. 
(xii)   Hints  for  household  decoration, 
(xiii)   The  over-crowding  of  cities, 
(xiv)   The  preservation  of  some  historic  landmark, 
(xv)   The  harmony  of  church  bells. 
(xvi)   An  erection  of  a  proposed  statue,  fountain  or 

monument. 
(xvii)  The   advantage   of   an    art   atmosphere   to 

any  community. 

(xviii)   The  last  message  of  the  President  or  notable 
bill  passed  by  Congress. 

b.  The  following  letter  from  Mr.  Woodrow  Wil- 
son was  written  at  the  request  of  a  grammar-school 
teacher  and  used  in  the  final  examination  in  compo- 
sition. The  letter  and  the  assignment  are  given  be- 
low. 

PRINCETON,  1ST.  J.,  March  31,  1903. 
My  dear  Young  Friends: 

It  seems  perhaps  a  novel  thing  to  write  a  letter  on 
the  subject  of  "Patriotism,"  but  that  is  what  I  am 
going  to  do,  because  certainly  a  friendly  letter  ought 
to  be  upon  some  subject  interesting  to  both  corre- 
spondents, and  I  know  of  no  subject,  except  one's  be- 
lief in  God,  which  ought  to  be  more  interesting  than 
the  love  of  one's  country. 

A  great  many  fine  words  are  spoken  about  pa- 


193 


LETTEES  AND  LETTEK  WEITING 

triotism ;  but,  after  all,  when  one  comes  down  to  sober 
thinking  about  it,  it  is  not  a  thing  which  needs  big 
words  to  describe  it ;  one  should  love  his  country  as  he 
should  love  his  friend.  You  love  your  friend  no^ 
for  your  own  sake,  but  for  your  f riend's  sake ;  and  you 
do  not  love  him  well  unless  your  desire  is  to  be  help- 
ful to  him,  and  to  serve  him  in  a  way  in  which  he 
needs  to  be  served.  Something  besides  affection  is 
necessary  in  our  friendships;  we  must  be  willing  to 
make  sacrifices  for  our  friends,  and  to  tell  them  their 
faults,  and  to  make  every  effort  to  set  them  in  the 
right  way  of  being  happy,  and  that  may  involve  much 
that  is  difficult  and  disagreeable  to  us. 

Our  love  for  our  country  ought  to  be  a  larger  sort 
of  friendship — loyal  affection  for  all  who  are  our  fel- 
low citizens,  and  for  the  governments  which  are  set 
over  us,  and  willingness  for  self-sacrifice  in  the  service 
of  the  country,  and  a  steady  courage  to  tell  it  when  we 
think  it  wrong,  as  well  as  to  applaud  it  when  we  think 
it  right.  We  must  understand  the  country  and  know 
what  it  is  like  and  what  its  life  is  in  order  to  serve 
it  properly,  just  as  we  must  know  our  friend  in  order 
to  serve  him  properly.  That  is  what  makes  it  a  privi- 
lege to  study  the  history  of  our  own  country,  and  the 
books  which  tell  us  the  way  it  is  governed,  and  the 
purpose  which  its  government  was  established  for; 
and  patriotism  is  not  merely  a  matter  of  shouting 
and  throwing  our  caps  in  air ;  it  is  a  matter  of  study 
also,  in  order  that  we  may  be  prepared  for  every  day 
of  duty. 

Do  you  not  think  that  this  is,  after  all,  the  pleas- 
194 


LETTEKS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

antest  idea  of  patriotism  ?  Does  it  not  give  us  some- 
thing definite  to  think  about,  and  does  it  not  please  us 
with  the  knowledge  that  there  is  something  for  every 
one  of  us  to  do  in  keeping  the  country  the  pure  and 
admirable  place  we*all  wish  it  to  be  ? 
Your  sincere  friend, 

WOODROW  WILSON". 

To  the  Pupils  of  the  Eighth  Grade,  Indianapolis 
Public  Schools. 

MAY,  1903. 

Mr.  Woodrow  Wilson,  president  of  Princeton  Uni- 
versity, is  one  of  the  most  scholarly  and  most  power- 
ful men  in  the  country.  He  is  probably  the  highest 
authority  in  the  United  States  on  the  period  of  the 
reconstruction.  He  shows  his  own  patriotism  by  his 
desire  to  see  it  developed  in  the  children  of  the  coun- 
try. 

Make  your  letter  a  real  answer.  Show  him  by  your 
courtesy  that  you  appreciate  his  letter,  and  that  you, 
too,  love  your  country  and  wish  to  serve  it.  Tell  him 
some  of  the  ways  a  boy  or  girl  can  be  patriotic,  some 
of  the  things  that  your  fathers  and  mothers  do  to  help 
the  country,  and  of  the  organizations  in  your  commu- 
nity that  exist  for  the  benefit  of  the  people. 

The  best  letter  will  be  sent  to  the  superintendent. 


195 


LETTERS  AND  LETTEE  WRITING 


V.    LETTERS  OF  BUSINESS 

1.  READ  THE  FOLLOWING  LETTERS  IN  PART  I : 
From :  Page 

Robert  Burns 66 

Josiah  Quincy 64 

Cicero 65 

2.  LETTER  ASSIGNMENTS. 

223  NORTH  ALABAMA  STREET, 
INDIANAPOLIS,  INDIANA,  March  27,  1903. 
Mr.  T.  B.  Cameron,  Manager  Wulschner  Music  Co., 
Indianapolis,  Ind.: 

Dear  Sir : — Having  heard  that  there  is  a  vacancy  in 
your  stringed  instrument  department,  I  hasten  to  ap- 
ply for  the  position  of  salesman.  You  know  of  my 
work  with  you  last  summer,  during  the  vacation  of 
your  regular  salesman,  and  I  leave  the  recalling  of 
those  two  months  to  put  me  back  in  the  place.  I  can, 
however,  furnish  good  references  should  you  desire  it. 
I  am 

Very  truly  yours, 

SUMNER  EATON. 

a.  Imagine  that  you  are  one  of  Sumner  Eaton's 
references  and  write  to  the  above  firm  in  his  behalf. 

NOTE.  The  chief  merits  of  a  business  letter  are  directness 
and  brevity.  Nothing  irrelevant  to  the  point  should  be  intro- 
duced into  a  business  letter. 

Sirs: — Applying  for  admission  in  your  employ- 
ment, I  desire  to  state  that  I  have  never  been  in  busi- 
196 


LETTEES  AND  LETTEE  WETTING 

ness,  being  to  school  at college  in  Maryland,  and 

-  in  New  York.    My  father's  position  is  a  bridge 

carpenter  on  the  railroad.     I  live  at .     I 

refer  to and . 

-Yours  respectfully, 


&.  Criticism:  This  letter  gives  no  information 
whatever  that  would  be  of  value  in  determining  the 
young  man's  fitness  for  a  place  as  bank-clerk.  It  does 
not  even  tell  his  age. 

The  above  letter  and  the  criticism  upon  it  were 
taken  from  a  leading  paper.  Note  the  criticism ;  add 
what  you  think  necessary  to  the  data  given,  and  write 
a  proper  letter  of  application  for  the  position  of 
bank-clerk. 

c.  Look  into  the  "want"  columns  of  your  daily 
paper  and  answer  an  advertisement. 

d.  Make  application  by  letter  for  any  one  of  the 
following  positions :  of  clerk,  of  teacher  of  any  kind, 
of  printer,  machinist,  office  manager. 

e.  Write  to  a  business  house,  commending  your 
friend  for  a  position. 

/.  Write  a  letter  of  inquiry  to  the  Patent  Office 
at  Washington,  D.  C.,  asking  about  duplicates  of  an 
invention  that  you  are  supposed  to  have  made. 

g.  Order  a  book  from  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co., 
Boston. 

h.  Acknowledge  by  letter  the  receipt  of  a  package 
from  a  New  York  house. 

i.  Write  an   advertisement  calling  for  household 
service ;  for  a  house  to  rent  or  sell. 
197 


CHAPTER   IV 

LETTERS  AND  JOURNALS  IN  CONNECTION 

WITH  HISTORY,  READING  AND 

LITERATURE 

7.    IN  CONNECTION  WITH  HISTORY  AND 
READING 

1.  READ  IN  PART  I : 

Page 

The  Journal  of  the  Rev.  William  Emer- 
son  112-114 

See  the  annotated  list  for  journals. 

2.  LETTER  ASSIGNMENTS. 

BARCELONA,  SPAIN,  May  16,  1493. 
D ear  Cousin: 

In  your  last  letter  you  spoke  as  though  the  faith 
I  had  put  in  the  voyage  of  Columbus  was  misplaced. 
But  you  were  mistaken,  as  many  others  were.  Colum- 
bus has  returned  and  brought  back  gold  and  natives 
from  India.  Spain  at  last  has  a  direct  route  to  India, 
and  that  route  was  discovered  by  sailing  west.  Many 
mourned  Columbus,  thinking  he  was  lost  in  the  great 
sea  of  darkness;  but  I  felt  almost  as  confident  of  his 
return  as  when  I  offered  my  jewels  to  assist  him.  I 
198 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

spoke  of  the  Atlantic  as  a  sea  of  darkness,  but  as  such 
it  will  no  longer  be  known. 

Knowing  you  will  rejoice  with  me  for  Spain,  I 
remain, 

Your  cousin, 

ISABELLA,  QUEEN  or  SPAIN. 

a.  Answer  the  Queen's  letter  in  the  name  of  her 
cousin,  supplying  name. 

VALLADOLID,  SPAIN,  September  2,  1503. 
To   Their  Royal  Highnesses,,  King  Ferdinand  and 

Queen  Isabella: 

Your  royal  word  is  law  and  must  be  obeyed,  I  know, 
but  the  pain  of  it  is  nevertheless  hard  to  bear.  I  en- 
tered your  service  when  I  was  young,  without  a  gray 
hair  mingled  with  my  black  ones.  Now  I  have  not 
one  raven  lock,  for  they  have  all  turned  snowy  from 
sorrow  of  the  injustices  thrown  upon  me.  The  in- 
gratitude of  your  Highnesses  pains  me  more  than  I 
can  express.  After  discovering  for  you  a  direct  route 
to  the  riches  of  India,  I  am  repaid  by  being  placed 
in  chains  as  any  prisoner  or  traitor.  My  one  desire 
which  I  wish  to  ask  of  your  Highnesses  is  the  resto- 
ration of  my  former  honor  which  has  been  so  cruelly 
taken  away  from  me. 

Praying  you  to  grant  my  appeal,  I  remain 
Humbly  yours, 

CHRISTOPHER  COLUMBUS. 

b.  Answer  this  letter  for  Queen  Isabella.  Be  true 
to  the  facts  of  history. 

199 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

SULLIVAN  ISLAND,  S.  CAROLINA, 

June  29,  1776. 
To  His  Excellency,  Gen.  George  Washington: 

Dear  Sir: — I  have  the  honor  to  report  that  the 
British  fleet  which  attacked  Ft.  Sullivan  yesterday 
was  repulsed.  Our  men  were  encouraged  by  the 
brave  deed  of  Sergeant  Jasper.  During  the  engage- 
ment the  flag  of  our  fort  was  knocked  down  and  fell 
on  the  outside.  Jasper  leaped  over  the  walls  and 
replanted  it.  Our  casualties  are  few;  enemy's  loss 
not  known. 

COLONEL  MOULTRIE, 
Commander  of  Ft.  Sullivan. 

c.  Using  the  above  letter  as  a  motive, 

(i)  Imagine  that  you  are  General  Washington, 
and  commend  Colonel  Moultrie  for  his 
bravery. 

(ii)  Imagine  that  you  are  Sergeant  Jasper,  and 
write  to  a  friend  about  the  encounter  in 
which  he  won  fame. 

(iii)  Imagine  that  you  saw  the  engagement  and 
write  home  about  it. 

ROME,  ITALY. 
To  Decius  Mus  Good  Health  and  Greeting: 

As  you  already  know,  we  Romans  believe  bravery 
to  be  the  highest  virtue  of  all,  so  I  will  tell  you  an 
example  of  this. 

Not  long  ago  the  citizens  of  Rome  were  startled 
and  distressed  by  the  sudden  and  unexpected  open- 
ing of  a  chasm  many,  many  feet  deep.    We  tried  to 
200 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

fill  it  up  with  earth,  but  all  in  vain.  Thinking  that 
it  had  been  a  punishment  for  some  misdeed  inflicted 
by  the  gods,  we  consulted,  asking  what  we  could  do 
to  win  ourselves  once  more  into  their  favor. 

They  replied  that  the  most  precious  thing  of  all 
the  treasures  of  Rome  should  be  offered  to  it  as  a 
sacrifice.  We  were  greatly  puzzled,  not  knowing  what 
this  was,  some  saying  gold  or  jewels,  and  others  corn. 
But  at  last  the  matter  was  settled  by  a  young  man 
named  Marcus  Curtius  saying  that  bravery  was  the 
thing  that  the  gods  wanted.  Then  putting  on  his 
armor,  he  said  that  he  would  sacrifice  himself,  and  the 
hole  closed  leaving  a  pool  of  water.  VETURIUS. 

d.  Using  the  above  letter  for  suggestion,  write : 
(i)   A  letter  in  the  name  of  Curtius. 
(ii)   What  Curtius  might  have  said  to  himself 
when  alone,  before  performing  his  brave 
deed. 

(iii)  A  letter  in  the  name  of  a  Roman  Senator 
commenting  upon  "The  Gulf  in  the  Fo- 
rum/' 

(iv)  A  letter  reporting  what  you  think  was  said 
between  Curtius  and  his  friend,  who  tried 
to  dissuade  him  from  jumping  into  the 
gulf. 

(v)   A  letter  from  the  point  of  view  of  an  on- 
looker at  the  whole  scene. 


201 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

April  27,  1902. 
Dear  Friend: 

Can  you  imagine  what  King  Alfred's  thoughts 
were  as  he  sat  by  the  hearth  in  the  woodcutter's  hut  ? 
Of  course  you  know  how  he  came  there  and  how  the 
woodcutter's  wife  told  him  to  watch  the  cakes,  but 
he  had  a  more  important  thing  to  think  about  than 
the  cakes.  I  will  tell  you  what  I  think  he  was  think- 
ing about.  It  was  this :  "How  am  I  going  to  defeat 
these  savage  Danes?  How  am  I  going  to  get  my 
army  together  again?  They  are  scattering  far  and 
wide.  I  will  go  and  find  as  many  of  my  companions 
as  I  can,  but  what  can  a  mere  handful  of  men  do 
against  an  army?  Ah,  I  know  what  to  do.  As  soon 
as  I  can  get  a  few  men  I  will  send  them  in  every 
direction  to  find  as  many  of  their  companions  as  pos- 
sible, and  then  we  will  suddenly  fall  upon  the  Danes 
and  defeat  them."  While  he  was  thinking  he  did  not 
once  look  to  see  about  the  cakes,  and  they  were 
burned  to  a  crisp.  He  kept  on  thinking  what  would 
happen  next  day,  when  suddenly  his  dream  was 
broken  by  the  woodcutter's  wife  screaming,  "Oh,  you 
wretch,  you  have  let  my  cakes  burn.  You  shall  not 
have  any  supper."  Yours  truly,  D.  C. 

In  your  next  letter,  please  tell  me  what  you  think 
Alfred's  thoughts  were. 

e.  After  reading  the  above  letter  for  a  motive,  im- 
agine yourself  in  the  time  of  Alfred  the  Great  and 
write  any  one  of  the  letters  below : 


202 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

(i)  A  letter  in  the  name  of  the  woman  whose 

cakes  he  watched, 
(ii)  A  letter  in  the  name  of  a  Dane  commenting 

upon  the  character  of  Alfred, 
(iii)   A   letter   m*  the   name   of    King   Alfred's 

mother,  full  of  advice  and  reminiscences 

of  his  early  life  and  how  he  learned  to 

read, 
(iv)   A   letter   of   advice   from   Alfred  to   some 

youth  in  whom  he  is  interested. 

Leaves  from  the  Journal  of  Darim,  in  "Ten  Boys  on 
the  Road  from  Long  Ago  to  Now." 

1. 

BABYLON 

Hurrah,  hurrah !  I  am  five  years  old  to-day.  This 
morning  I  went  to  school  in  a  beautiful  field  outside 
the  city  gates.  I  had  a  little  sling  with  a  smooth 
pebble  in  it  and  I  shot  farther  than  the  other  boys. 
Then  we  had  a  running  class,  and  I  almost  won. 
After  that  our  teacher  told  us  about  Zoroaster.  Then 
we  saw  the  large  boys  run  and  jump  on  their  horses 
and  shoot  at  a  target  in  a  tree.  Some  day  I  shall  be 
able  to  do  that,  too.  When  I  get  large  I  am  going  to 
be  a  brave  warrior  and  fight  for  our  great  King 
Cyrus.  Then  I  shall  ride  a  beautiful  prancing  horse. 
My  big  brother  is  in  the  king's  army  now,  and  some 
day  I  shall  be,  too. 

DARIUS. 
203 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 


2. 

BABYLON- 


years  later. 


Now  I  am  seven  years  old.  I  have  learned  to  shoot 
far  and  straight  and  to  run  swiftly.  I  can  throw  the 
javelin,  shoot  the  bow  and  arrow,  and  ride.  Every 
morning,  we  boys  stand  in  a  row  and  the  field  gate 
is  opened  and  beautiful  horses  with  flowing  manes 
gallop  into  the  field.  We  must  jump  on  one  of  these 
horses  with  our  weapons  in  our  hands.  The  boys  of 
twelve  often  go  hunting  and  sleep  in  the  fields.  In 
about  a  year  I  shall  do  that,  too.  I  always  try  to  do 
my  best  at  school.  Now  my  school  is  ended  for  to- 
day, but  to-morrow  I  must  get  up  very  early  and  go 
again.  DARIUS. 


3. 

BABYLON 


Same  year. 


After  our  riding  lesson  we  kept  the  horse  we  had 
mounted.  All  of  us  rode  back  to  the  other  side  of 
our  field,  and  turning  our  horses  around,  faced  our 
teacher,  who  was  also  on  a  horse.  Our  teacher  said, 
"To-day  we  are  going  to  hunt  the  antelope."  Then, 
our  master  leading  us,  we  galloped  away.  Then 
night  came  and  we  all  slept  in  the  cool  green  field. 
Bright  and  early  with  the  morning  we  were  on  our 

204: 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

horses  again  and  away.  That  day  we  found  the  home 
of  the  antelope  and  after  killing  one  we  made  our 
way  back  to  the  place  we  had  slept  the  day  before. 
Here  we  made  a  good  meal  of  peaches  and  pears 
which  grow  wild.  -Then  it  did  not  take  us  long  to 
get  home.  DARIUS. 

4. 

BABYLON 

Three  weeks  later. 

To-day  I  came  to  my  uncle's  farm,  and  I  shall  not 
see  Zadok  for  a  long  time.  While  I  am  at  the  farm 
I  learned  to  guide  the  plow  and  to  plant  grain.  It 
is  spring  and  the  trees  are  just  blossoming.  My 
uncle  looks  sorrowfully  to  the  southeast,  and  turns 
away  only  to  cast  a  sad  look  upon  his  trees  just  in 
bloom.  The  wind  has  been  southeast  for  two  days, 
and  if  it  does  not  turn,  he  says,  the  locusts  will  be 
upon  us.  DARIUS. 

b.  Using  the  foregoing  journal  entries  for  sugges- 
tion write  leaves  from  the  imaginary  journal  of : 
(i)   Roland, 
(ii)   The  Witch's  Daughter;  Abraham  Davenport 

(see  Whittier's  poems), 
(iii)   Columbus, 
(iv)   Roger  Williams, 
(v)   A  song-bird  whose  mate  has  been  killed  for 

feathers  for  a  hat. 
(vi)   A  wild  goose  in  its  passage. 
205 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WETTING 

(vii)  My  own  life  on  eventful  days, 
(viii)   Ivanhoe  while  with  Cceur  de  Lion, 
(ix)  Eecords  of  data  for  stories  from  life, 
(x)  Dramatic  incidents  all  around  us. 

II.    IN  CONNECTION  WITH  READING 

AND  THE  STUDY  OF 

LITERATURE 

1.    READ  THE  FOLLOWING  LETTERS  IN  PART  I : 

From :  Page 

Charles  Lamb,  for  quaintness  of  diction .  44 
Sir  Thomas  More  to  his  children,  for 
dominance  of  the  Latin  element  and 

forceful  phrase 25 

Samuel  Johnson,  for  power  of  sarcasm. .   63 
Sidney  Lanier,  for  fine  literary  grace  and 

flavor 75,  76 

George  William  Curtis,  for  fine  blend- 
ing of   all   the   elements   of   literary 

art 40,  91,  100,  102 

James  Eussell  Lowell,  for  richness  in 
thought  and  diction  and  the  revelation 

of  the  scholarly  man 61,  74,  79, 107 

Benjamin  Franklin,  for  historic  infor- 
mation on  the  growth  of  the  language 

and  diction  in  N.  E ^ 53 

Lord  Chesterfield,  for  dignity  of  phrase .   69 
Edward  Eowland  Sill,  for  the  diction  of 

the  study 71 

206 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

Hamilton  W.  Mabie        "| 
Jenkin  Lloyd  Jones         I    for  character- 
David  Starr  Jordan           ^  appreciation.  .  .89-93 
George  William  Curtis   J 
Henry  van  DyEe,  with  reference  to  Tenny- 
son    94.96 

2.    LETTER  ASSIGNMENTS. 

(The  Legend  of  Sleepy  Hollow) 

SLEEPY  HOLLOW,  NEW  YORK, 

October  31,  1820. 
My  dear  Cousin: — 

Yes,  Ichabod  Crane  was  at  the  quilting  party. 
He  borrowed  a  poor  shaggy  horse  called  Gunpowder, 
and  reached  there  in  time.  Everything  seemed  to 
please  him.  Katrina  van  Tassel  never  looked  so  well ; 
she  danced  a  great  deal  during  the  evening.  Ichabod 
did  enjoy  the  supper;  there  were  all  kinds  of  cakes 
and  they  were  all  good.  After  the  dance  Ichabod  w 
and  the  older  folk  sat  on  the  piazza  and  told  ghost 
stories  about  a  "Headless  Horseman."  Ichabod  was 
never  seen  after  that  night.  Did  you  enjoy  The 
Legend  of  Sleepy  Hollow?  What  did  you  think  of 
the  school?  I  liked  the  part  best  that  showed  how 
Ichabod  made  himself  at  home  with  the  housewives. 
Tell  me  what  you  liked  best  when  you  write  and 
write  soon  to  Your  friend,  M.  M. 

a.  Using  the  above  letter  as  a  motive : 
(i)  Answer  the  request  made. 

207 


LETTERS  AND  LETTEE  WRITING 

(ii)  Write  a  letter  in  the  name  of  Ichabod  Crane 
telling  of  his  various  experiences  either 
at  school,  or  in  the  neighborhood. 

(iii)  Write  a  letter  in  the  name  of  Katrina  van 
Tassel  telling  about  Ichabod  Crane. 

(iv)  Write  a  letter  purported  to  be  from  Brom 
Bones  in  after  years.  (In  all  cases  ad- 
here to  the  main  facts  of  the  story.) 

(The  Last  of  the  Mohicans.) 

AMMATION,  PORA,  March  25, 1902. 
Captain  Lee  Gordon,  45th  Royal  Lancers: — 

Dear  Sir : — You  ask  me  of  the  Indian,  of  his  char- 
acter and  thoughts  and  actions ;  but  I  can  not  answer 
you.  The  red  man  of  to-day,  whose  blood  is  thin  and 
temple  pale,  is  but  the  remnant  of  the  mighty  race  of 
Indians.  But  let  the  hard  walls  fade  away  into  the 
airy  wigwams;  let  the  book  give  way  to  the  savage 
weapon,  and  the  black  factory  smoke  become  the  gen- 
tle blue  wreath  of  the  camp-fire  where  Uncas  and  I 
rested  at  the  close  of  day,  and  then  I  know  the 
Indian.  Those  men  were  noble,  brave,  undaunted 
people,  whose  strongest  virtue  was  their  will  and 
whose  strongest  weapon  their  courage.  ...  As 
a  noble  type  of  superb  Indian  manhood,  my  old 
friend  and  comrade,  Uncas,  has  no  effective  rival.  He 
was  generous  and  treated  men  with  fairness  but  se- 
verity. He  was  ever  more  careful  and  thoughtful  of 
his  friends  than  of  himself.  He  was  immovable  in 
dangers  and  but  once  to  my  knowledge  did  his  con- 
208 


LETTERS  AND  LETTEE  WRITING 

servative  and  reasonable  parts  desert  him.  He  lived 
the  life  of  a  hero ;  but  noble  as  it  was,  his  death  sur- 
passed it.  Seeing  Cora,  whom  he  loved,  about  to  be 
the  victim  of  the  knife  of  his  bitterest  enemy,  he 
cast  his  body  from  tfce  precipice,  and  died  a  martyr 
to  his  love,  a  redeemer,  if  need  be,  of  his  tribe  and  a 
model  to  all  men. 

I  am  getting  old  fast  now,  My  arm  trembles ;  my 
trigger  finger  is  no  longer  steady  and  my  eyes  can  not 
pick  the  trail  as  they  used  to  do.  But  as  long  as 
Hawk  Eye  lives,  when  he  smokes  his  pipe  about  the 
evening  fire,  his  mind  will  go  back  to  the  days  when 
he  was  young,  and  ever  before  his  eyes  shall  be  the 
noble  form  of  Uncas.  And  when  Hawk  Eye  is  no 
more,  perhaps  his  spirit  will  be  in  the  great  hunting 
ground  of  the  Indians,  where  his  Uncas  will  see  him. 
Your  most  sincere  friend, 

HAWK  EYE. 

&.  In  connection  with  the  study  of  The  Last  of  the 
Mohicans : 

(i)  Using  the  above  letter  from  Hawk  Eye  as  a 
suggestion,  set  forth  the  Indian  character 
in  a  communication  supposed  to  be  from 
Duncan  Hayward. 

(ii)  Make  journal  entries  of  what  you  imagine 
the  experience  of  a  person  in  the  story  of 
The  Last  of  the  Mohicans  might  have 
been  at  crucial  moments  in  the  story. 
(See  journals  in  connection  with  Ten  Boys  Who 
Lived  on  the  Road  from  Long  Ago  to  Now.) 
209 


LETTEES  AND  LETTEE  WEITING 

(The  Talisman.) 
INDIANAPOLIS,  IND.,  Feby.  26,  1902. 

Dear  Cousin: — 

Your  letter  telling  me  that  you  were  writing  on 
your  eighth  birthday  aroused  me  to  the  fact  that  I 
can  hardly  call  you  my  little  cousin  any  longer. 

I  am  glad  you  think  so  much  of  dogs,  for  the 
way  you  used  to  handle  the  cat  made  me  think  you 
did  not  care  for  animals,  their  feelings,  at  least.  The 
other  day  I  read  a  story  of  a  brave  dog  which  I  know 
will  interest  you. 

This  dog  was  a  large  stag  greyhound  who  had  come 
with  his  master,  a  knight  in  King  Eichard's  army  in 
the  twelfth  century,  from  Scotland  to  Palestine.  One 
day  the  king  ordered  the  knight  to  keep  watch  over 
his  flag  which  was  stationed  on  a  knoll  in  a  lonely 
part  of  the  camp.  That  night  the  master  left  his 
dog  to  watch  the  flag,  and  while  he  was  absent  a  robber 
came  to  steal  the  flag.  To  do  this  he  had  to  wound  the 
brave  dog  with  his  spear,  and  while  the  dog  was 
in  agony,  the  thief  ran  off.  When  the  knight  returned, 
he  found  his  dog  dying  and  the  flag  stolen.  A  passing 
physician  revived  the  dog  and  finally  cured  him, 
much  to  the  joy  of  his  master.  Afterward  the  dog 
discovered  the  thief,  for  it  is  said  a  dog  never  forgets 
an  enemy,  and  the  master  erased  the  disgrace  of  hav- 
ing deserted  his  post  by  winning  a  battle  with  the 
robber. 

The  story  of  this  noble  dog  is  in  one  of  Sir  Walter 
210 


LETTEES  AND  LETTEE  WEITING 

Scott's  books  called  The  Talisman,  and  in  a  few 
more  years  you  will  likely  read  it  yourself,  and  I 
know  you  will  enjoy  it  as  much  as  I  have. 

Write  often  and  tell  me  of  all  the  queer  tricks  of 
your  two  little  puppies,  and  do  not  forget 

Your  cousin,  F S . 

c.  Using  the  above  letter  as  suggestion : 

(i)   Write  to  a  friend  upon  Sir  Walter's  love  for 
dogs.     Use  Camp  and  Maida  and  others 
as  subject  for  your  thought. 
(ii)   Write  what  you  think  Kenneth  might  have 
said  to  himself  just  before  leaving  the 
banner,  in  answer  to  the  supposed  sum- 
mons of  Edith, 
(iii)   Write  such  a  letter  as  you  think  Kenneth 

might  have  written  home, 
(iv)   Write  a  letter  home,  supposed  to  be  from 

Lady  Edith. 

(v)   Make  a  character  study  of  Saladin. 
(vi)   Write  a  reminiscent  conversation  that  Eich- 
ard  and   Saladin  might  have  had  long 
after,  when  they  met. 
(vii)   A  character  study  of  Sir  Kenneth, 
(viii)  Write  a  paper  upon  the  dramatic  situations 

in  The  Talisman. 

(Any  of  the  above  assignments  can  be  made  into 
profitable  journal  entries,) 


211 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

(Ivanhoe.) 

INDIANAPOLIS,  March  13,  1902. 
My  dear  Mabel: — 

Now,  Mabel,  you're  mocking  me.  The  idea,  that 
I  should  send  a  sketch  for  your  portfolio.  You  know 
very  well  that  I'm  not  an  artist.  You  must  have 
something?  I  have  it.  Here  is  a  pen  sketch.  Don't 
look  too  closely;  there  are  a  good  many  crooked 
lines. 

This  is  not  a  picture  of  lady  fair  or  brave  knight. 
It  is  a  picture  of  a  Jester  in  the  court  of  Cedric,  a 
personage  of  Scott's  Ivanhoe.  It  is  a  fantastic  fig- 
ure, but  aside  from  the  motley  there  is  much  more 
in  it  than  in  these  dreamily  staring  faces  with  long 
curl  hung  gracefully  on  white  shoulder. 

Wamba,  for  so  the  Jester  is  named,  is  thought  to 
be  a  fool  and  yet  he  is  one  of  the  most  quick-witted 
persons  I  have  ever  known.  Wamba  is  called  a  fool, 
yet  answers  as  wise  as  his  have  often  escaped  the 
minds  of  great  men.  Wamba  is  despised  as  a  fool, 
yet  he  has  the  characteristics  which  many  a  great 
man  lacks.  Wamba  is  humored  as  a  fool,  yet  he  does 
many  a  wise  act  to  which  praise  is  due.  Wamba  is 
scorned  as  a  fool,  yet  he  offers  his  life  for  that  of 
his  master  when  others  are  afraid. 

When  you  meet  such  a  character  as  this,  whether 
it  is  in  life  or  in  fiction,  you  can  not  help  but  have  a 
feeling  both  of  pity  and  of  awe :  pity  for  its  depend- 
ence; awe  for  its  innocence.    It  is  as  if  you  were  in 
212 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

the  presence  of  a  baby  with  a  sadly  sober  face ;  a  face 
that  does  not  fit  a  baby.  Wamba  is  a  fool  in  that  he 
is  a  man  with  the  soul  of  a  child.  He  is  wise  as  a  child 
is  wise;  with  a  knowledge  that  many  shun  or  forget 
when  they  have  become  men  and  women;  the  knowl- 
edge that  comes  from  intuition.  He  has  the  confi- 
dence of  a  child.  He  has  the  quick  wit  of  a  child. 
He  is  playful.  He  is  childishly  unconscious  of  self. 
He  dreads  to  see  sorrow,  as  a  little  child  who  puts  its 
tiny  fist  to  its  eyes  when  its  mother  cries.,  dreads  it. 
He  is  venturesome  in  the  way  boys  are  venturesome; 
braving  all  danger  with  a  sort  of  childish  bravado. 
And  yet  Wamba  is  a  blessing  to  all  about  him.  He 
can  cheer  them ;  he  can  soothe  them ;  and  he  can  save 
life,  for  he  has  saved  both  his  master  and  the  Black 
Knight. 

The  figure  of  a  clown  seems  very  rude  and  com- 
monplace to  some  people.  It  is  not  commonplace  or 
rude,  though.  It  is  quite  beautiful  when  it  is  such  a 
character  as  Wamba,  is  it  not,  Mabel  ? 

Show  me  your  book  when  it  is  finished,  Mabel,  I 
am  interested  in  it.  I  am  truly,  believe  me, 


d.  After  reading  the  above  write  a  character  study 
of  Wamba  from  a  different  point  of  view. 


213 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

(Ivanhoe.) 

AT  SCHOOL, 
March  12,  1902. 
Dear  Kirk: — 

When  you  get  The  Talisman  get  the  mate  to  it, 
Ivanhoe.  You  can't  read  in  The  Talisman  about 
Richard  without  wanting  to  know  more  about  him. 
Ivanhoe  contains  more. 

From  the  manner  in  which  Scott  tells  of  Richard's 
actions  in  Ivanhoe,  he  must  have  loved  adventure. 
His  way  of  getting  his  desires  is  what  pleased  me. 
He  didn't  take  a  large  body  of  men  with  him.  He 
went  alone.  In  Ivanhoe  he  came  in  this  manner 
from  his  captivity  in  Austria.  No  one  knew  him  nor 
even  thought  he  was  in  England.  He  helped  Ivan- 
hoe in  the  tournament,  but  rode  away  from  the 
honors  he  had  received.  In  the  forest  he  drank  and 
sang  with  the  outlaw  priest.  On  the  field  he  fought 
with  the  commons  for  the  freedom  of  the  Saxons. 
Even  when  he  acknowledges  himself  king  he  made 
merry  with  the  robbers  and  pardoned  them.  As  a 
king  he  was  willing  to  fight  for  the  hated  Jews. 

I  envy  Wilfred  in  having  had  such  a  companion. 
He  would  be  a  good  one  to  associate  with  even  if  he 
were  a  king.  I  can  hardly  imagine  a  king  without 
a  throne  near  by ;  but  Richard  and  the  woods  seemed 
as  harmonious  as  Richard  and  a  band  of  courtiers. 
He  would  make  an  excellent  American  to-day.  In 
fact  I  think  he  was  born  about  eight  hundred  years 
too  early;  he  should  have  been  born  about  seventeen 
214 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

years  ago  in  the  city  of  Indianapolis.     See  what  I 
mean?     I  have  mentioned  only  a  few  names  and 
given  no  explanations  of  the  characters.,  so  that  you 
might  be  induced  to  read  Ivarihoe  for  yourself. 
Hoping  you  will  ,en  joy  the  book,  I  am, 

Your  affectionate  friend, 

N T . 

e.  In  connection  with  the  study  of  Ivarihoe: 
(i)  Answer  the  above  letter  and  make  comment 
upon  the  portrayal  of  Richard  made  by 
the  writer. 

(ii)  Write  journal  leaves  supposed  to  have  been 
written  by  a  crusader  in  the  time  of 
Coeur  de  Lion. 

(iii)  Write  such  a  letter  as  you  imagine  Ivanhoe 
might  have  written  home,  had  letter-writ- 
ing been  the  custom  then. 

(iv)  Assume  the  character  of  Rebecca  and  tell 
your  various  exciting  experiences.  Give 
separate  writings  to  the  storming  of  the 
Castle,  the  trial  for  sorcery,  the  visit  to 
Rowena. 

(v)   Take   upon   yourself  the   championship   of 
Isaac  of  York  and  write  his  defense.    In- 
clude as  much  as  you  can  of  the  oppres- 
sion of  his  race, 
(vi)   Write   an   imaginary   conversation  between 

two  Normans  about  Gurth  and  Wamba. 
(vii)   Make  character  studies  of  Ivanhoe,  of  Re- 
becca, Cedric,  Rowena. 
215 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

(viii)  Write  a  paper  upon  the  story  of  Ivanhoe 
that  brings  out  the  background  of  chiv- 
alry running  through  the  book. 
(ix)   Compare  the  picture  of  chivalry  given  in 
The  Talisman,  with  that  of  Ivanhoe. 

(x)   Compare  the  Templar  and  Front  de  Boeuf. 

3.    JOURNAL  LEAVES  IN  THE  STUDY  OF  TENNYSON. 

a.  We  have  begun  to  study  Tennyson  in  school 
now.  He  is  delightful.  His  poetry  always  seems  to 
me  to  be  written  'in  warm  colors.  Often  in  other 
reading  the  style  is  cold  gray,  or  so  transparent  that 
only  the  things  pictured  are  seen.  Tennyson  has  a 
distinctive  atmosphere;  his  pages  are  pervaded— 
though  unobtrusively — by  his  own  warm  personality. 
When  I  open  a  book  of  his  poems,  I  seem  to  have 
passed  through  a  gateway  in  a  hedge,  closing  after  me, 
and  to  wander  through  a  world  very  much  like  the  one 
without,  but  hand-in-hand  with  a  large  wonderful 
man  through  whose  eyes  I  see  everything. 

&.  A  day  later. 

Flower  in  the  Crannied  Wall. 

To-day  I  walked  with  Tennyson  along  a  little 
nameless  but  well-known  by-path.  He  spoke  of  the 
ignorance  of  humanity.  He  made  me  stop  to  think 
that  even  the  smallest  flower  is  enclosed  in  mystery. 
We  can  not  understand  all  the  marvelous  processes  by 
216 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

which  out  of  a  small  seed  and  a  dark  soil  comes  a 
lovely,  pure  flower,  which  for  a  time  brightens  its 
lonely  corner  with  its  fragile  life.  It  was  a  sweet 
lesson  in  humility  that  the  poet  exemplified  by  his 
own  life.  — 

c.  Two  days  later. 

The  Brook. 

Just  imagine  a  playful  brook,  charming  and  lovely 
to  any  one  who  could  hear  its  joyous  chattering  and 
see  its  graceful  turns,  but  seen  through  the  eyes  of 
my  poet  guide,  doubly  delightful ;  for  he  looked  upon 
it  as  upon  a  person  and  detected  rhythmic  language 
in  its  chattering.  How  I  wish  I  could  make  my 
senses  more  like  his. 

d.  Four  days  later. 

Ulysses. 

Tennyson  has  before  appealed  to  the  emotions  and 
to  the  intellect;  to-day  he  appealed  strongly  to  the 
will.  The  picture  of  Ulysses  had  the  effect  of  mar- 
tial music.  It  is  a  strong  stimulus  to  see  a  man  at 
the  close  of  the  day,  and  of  his  life,  start  out  "to 
seek  a  newer  world."  The  last  words  of  Ulysses  re- 
main fastened  in  the  memory — 

"strong  in  will 

To  strive,  to  seek,  to  find,  and  not  to  yield." 
217 


LETTEES  AND  LETTEE  WEITING 

4.     SUGGESTIONS  FOR  LETTERS  OR  JOURNALS  IN  CON- 
NECTION WITH  THE  STUDY  OF  "CORIOLANUS"  I 

a.  Eead  the  letter  by  Mr.  Hamilton  W.  Mabie  in 
Part  II  (p.  97). 

6.  Defend  Coriolanus.  » 


MARCUS   FLAVIUS   TO  JULIUS   SEMPRONIUS. 
IN  LATIUM. 

Eome  A.  U.  C.  450. 

M.  Mavius  desires  his  warmest  regards  to  J.  Sem- 
pronius.  If  you  are  in  health  it  is  well.  I  am  well. 
Dost  remember  the  dream  I  related  in  my  last  letter  ? 
By  the  will  of  the  immortal  gods  it  has  come  true, 
for  Coriolanus  has  yielded,  and  the  Volscian  army 
has  departed.  I  just  returned  from  the  Etruscan 
Gate  where  Yolumnia  and  her  train  were  coming 
from  the  Volscian  camp.  The  face  of  the  heroic 
mother  was  sad  but  calm;  joy  for  the  release  of 
Eome,  sorrow  for  the  loss  of  her  noble  son,  who  will 
assuredly  die,  a  victim  to  Volscian  baseness  and  per- 
fidy. Ah !  What  a  hero  was  he !  How  noble !  How 
courageous !  The  pride  of  Eome  when  he  was  a  boy, 
her  chief  defender  when  a  man.  I  knew  him  well, 
therefore  I  will  give  you  a  strict  account  of  his  many 
good  and  evil  qualities.  The  gods  endowed  him  with 
the  virtues  of  bravery,  patriotism  and  filial  love. 
Of  these  great  attributes  his  bravery,  combined  with 
his  patriotism,  was  predominant.  His  whole  life  was 
218 


LETTEES  AND  LETTEE  WEITING 

devoted  to  his  country.  And  what  reflects  greater 
praise  upon  him  than  his  tender  passionate  love  for 
his  noble  mother!  He  always  recognized  her  as  his 
superior  in  knowledge  and  strength  of  character.  He 
always  obeyed  her^as  a  child  even  when  death  was  the 
inevitable  consequence.  By  this  we  see  not  only 
filial  love,  but  a  great  noble  nature  in  which  are  com- 
bined the  best  qualities  of  a  Eoman. 

But  the  unfortunate  characteristic  that  wrecked 
his  whole  life  and  caused  his  once  honored  name  to 
be  reviled  and  despised — was  his  pride;  except 
for  this  he  might  have  become  the  trusted  commander 
of  the  army ;  the  wise  ruler,  respected  and  loved  and 
honored  by  all  classes;  but  instead  he  yielded  to  his 
insatiable  pride,  and  now  he  is  hated,  reviled,  and 
accursed ;  despised  by  the  people  who  once  had  loved 
him.  But  the  gods  have  decreed  it  so;  therefore  let 
us  drop  a  tear  in  memory  of  the  hero,  who,  though 
brave,  gentle,  and  honorable,  was  passionate  and  re- 
vengeful, the  wreck  of  a  true  hero, — a  sad  example  of 
what  might  have  been.  Farewell. 

Written  at  the  Villa  Alba. 

Eome  A.  U.  C.  450. 

c.  Using  the  above  letter  for  suggestion  write  let- 
ters from  Eome : 

(i)   In  which  you  picture  the  plebeians  as  Corio- 

lanus  saw  them ;  as  they  saw  themselves. 
(ii)   In  which  you  picture  the  patricians. 


219 


LETTERS  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

(iii)  A  letter  from  Menenius  upon  Coriolanus 
(i.  e.,  from  the  point  of  view  of  his 
friend,  a  patrician) . 

(iv)  A  letter  from  one  of  the  tribunes  upon  the 
character  of  Coriolanus  (i.  e.,  from  the 
point  of  view  of  the  plebeians). 

(v)  A  letter  giving  an  account  of  the  banish- 
ment of  Coriolanus  from  the  point  of 
view  of  an  eye-witness. 

(vi)  Tell  some  friend  what  you  imagine  Corio- 
lanus might  have  said  to  himself  after 
his  banishment  on  the  way  to  Corioli,  to 
the  home  of  Tullus  Aufidius. 

(vii)  A  letter  in  which  you  imagine  what  Volum- 

nia  might  have  said  to  herself  on  her  way 

out  to  the  camp  to  persuade  Coriolanus  to 

spare  Rome. 

(viii)  Journal  entries  in  the  name  of  any  of  the 

characters  are  profitable. 

Make  a  list  of  interesting  letters  that  might  be 
written  in  connection  with  the  play  of  Coriolanus. 

5.     SUGGESTIONS  FOR  LETTERS  OR  JOURNALS  IN  CON- 
NECTION WITH  THE  STUDY  OF  " JULIUS  CAESAR" : 

The  letters  to  be  written  from  the  point  of  view  of 
an  observer,  or  one  living  at  the  time. 

Points  to  be  brought  out: 

a.  Letter  from  Cassius  in  which  he  betrays  his 
envy  of  Caesar. 

&.  Brutus  gives  an  account  of  the  death  of  Caesar, 
quoting  the  words  "ambition's  debt  is  paid/' 
220 


LETTEES  AND  LETTER  WRITING 

c.  A  letter  about  Caesar,  the  natural  leader  and 
master. 

d.  A  letter  about  Brutus,  as  the  "soul  of  Rome," 
the  last  representative  of  the  Republic. 

e.  A  letter  about  Cassius,  as  ambitious,  seeking 
gratification  of  ambition  through  Brutus. 

/.  A  letter  about  Antony :  ambitious,  seeking  grat- 
ification of  ambition  through  loyalty  to  Caesar,  living 
or  dead. 

g.  About  the  women  (Calpurnia  and  Portia)  and 
the  servants  in  relation  to  the  drama. 

h.  Describe  to  a  friend  the  picture  embodied  in 
the  lines,  "Even  at  the  base  of  Pompey's  statue  .  .  . 
great  Caesar  fell/' 

i.  Tell  the  story  of  Pindarus,  the  slave  who  killed 
Cassius  and  received  his  liberty  for  recompense. 

j.  Give  an  account  of  a  possible  oration  over  Bru- 
tus by  Yolumnius  (the  old  school  fellow  who  refused 
to  hold  the  sword  for  Brutus). 

Tc.  Tell  a  friend  what  you  imagine  might  have  been 
the  soliloquy  of  Calpurnia  after  Caesar's  departure  for 
the  Capitol. 

I.  Compose,  for  some  younger  person,  an  allegory 
embodying  the  topics,  Patriotism  and  Ambition. 


221 


INDEX 


Abbot's  Oak,  103. 

Acceptance,  letters  of,  43. 

Acknowledgment,  letters  of, 
48,  63,  184. 

Adams,  Abigail,  105, 115. 

Adrianople,  85. 

Advice,  letters  of,  69,  74. 

Agassiz,  Louis,  89,  90, 115. 

Alaska,  147. 

Alcibiades,  167. 

Alcott,  Louisa  M.,  115. 

Alfred,  King,  202. 

Allen,  James  Lane,  37. 

Allston,  Washington,  115. 

Alps,  the,  27,  87. 

Amiel,  Henri  F.,  115. 

Andersen,  Hans,  12, 16, 115. 

Annotated  list,  115  to  134. 

Appledore  (see  Thaxter),  131. 

Appreciation,  letters  of,  75  to  94, 
187  (see  Guerin),  121. 

Arblay,  Mme.  D',  116. 

Arbor  Day,  102  to  114, 125. 

Archer,  Thomas,  32. 

Arm-chair,  160. 

Arnold,  Matthew,  38, 116. 

(see  Guerin),  121,   (see  John- 
son), 124. 

Art  (see  Hamerton),  132. 

Assignment  of  lesson,  10. 

Letters  of,  146,  153,  160,  164, 
167,  181,  185,  198,  207. 

Astyages,  179. 

Athens,  167. 

Audubon,  John  J.,  116. 

Autobiographies,  132  to  134, 151. 

Aurora,  164. 

Autumn,  137, 138. 

Babylon,  203-204. 

Barton,  Amos,  56. 

Beech,  the,  104. 

Beetles,  78. 

Berlin  (see  Von  Moltke),  127. 

Beuve,  Sainte  (see  Guerin),  121. 

Birds  (see  Thaxter) ,  131. 

Birthday,  88,  70. 

Bismarck,  Otto  Edw.,  116 

(see  Motley),  127. 
Bixby,  Mrs.,  99. 
Blackbird  (see  Kuskin),  129. 
Bluebird,  153. 


Bobolink,  79,  80. 

Bosphorus  (see  Von  Moltke),  123. 

Boston  (see  Winslow) ,  132. 

Boswell,  James  (see  Johnson),  132. 

Brittany  (see  Guerin),  121. 

Brooks,  Phillips,  12, 116. 

Brown,  John,  101, 117  (see  Hugo), 

Brown,  Thomas  E.,  117. 
Browning,  Mrs.  E.  B.,  117,  142. 
Browning.  Robert,  7, 117. 
Bryant,  W.  C.,  105, 106, 109, 110, 116. 
Burns,  Robert,  47,  66, 117. 
Burroughs,  John,  20,  39,  70,  141. 
Business,  letters  of,  196. 
Butterfly,  154. 
Byron,  Lord,  117  (see  Shelley),  129. 

Cabott,  Miss  (see  Lowell),  126. 
Caesar,  Julius,  65,  220. 
Camp  (the  dog)  (see  Scott),  129. 
Carlyle,  James  W.,  118, 121. 
Carlyle,  Thomas,  29,  59,  80, 118. 
Cathedral,  The  (see  Curtis),  119. 
Ceylon  (see  Brooks),  116. 
Chapin,  Alice,  154. 
Character,  appreciation  of, 

89  to  93,  206. 

Charles  II  (see  Evelyn),  120. 
Charter  Oak,  103. 
Chesterfield,  Lord,  63,  69, 118,  206. 
Child,  L.  M.,  24,  98, 118. 
China  (see  Gordon),  121. 
Christians  (see  Pliny),  128. 
Cicero,  12,  65, 118. 
Coleridge,  S.  T.  (see  Lamb),  124. 
Colosseum,  The,  86. 
Colvin Sidney  (see  Stevenson), 130. 
Columbus,  Christopher,  199. 
Composition,  an  art  subject,  3. 
Concord,  112. 
Congratulations,  39,  40. 
Coriolanus,  97,  98,  218. 
Cowper,  Wm.,  46,  78,  118. 
Criticism,  50,  68, 197. 
Culture,  72. 
Curtius,  Marcus,  201. 
Curtis,  G.  W.,  13, 40,  49, 91, 100, 102, 

119  (see  Motley),  129,  206. 
Cyrus,  178. 

Daily  Practice,  9. 


223 


INDEX 


Damon,  174. 
Damrosch,  76. 
Danube,  The,  84. 
Darwin,  12, 119. 
Davis,  Edward,  74. 
Dawn,  The,  37, 119. 
Debt,  67. 

De  Qnincey,  Thos.,  119. 
Description,  163, 175. 
Dial,  The  (see  Stowe),  130. 
Dialogue,  176. 

Dickens,  Charles,  55,  57, 119. 
Dickinson,  Emily,  119. 
Dictionary,  63. 
Discussion.  168  to  170. 
Dix,  Dorothea,  105, 119. 
Donne,  John,  119. 
Dumas,  18. 

Ebers,  George,  132. 

Education  (see  Mill),  133. 

Eggleston,  Edward,  73. 

Eliot,  George  (pseud.),  55,  57,  120. 

Emerson,  B.  W.,  6,  35, 58, 59, 80, 118, 
120. 

Emerson,  Rev.  Wm.,  112  to  114. 

England  (see  Kingsley),  124  (Mot- 
ley), 127. 

Enthusiasm,  90. 

Epistolary  writing,  12. 

Evelyn,  John,  120. 

Ewing,  Juliana  H.,  120. 

Explanatory  letters,  167. 

Expression,  variety  of,  174, 177. 

Farewell,  letters  of.  100, 101, 102. 
Farm-boy  (see  Wallace),  131. 
Farragut,  David  G.,  120. 
Fields,  J.  T.,  43. 
Fifteenth  century  (see  Paston), 

128. 

Fitzgerald,  Edward,  83, 120. 
Flower  in  the  Crannied  Wall,  216. 
Football,  30  to  32. 
Franklin,  Benj.,  34,  53,  61,  62, 105, 

120, 132,  206. 

Froebel  (see  Ebers),  132. 
Frost,  Jack,  146. 

Germany  (see  Lowell),  126. 

Gibbon,  Edward,  133. 

Gilder,  R.  W.,  68. 

Glasgow,  68. 

Glenmary,  82. 

Goethe,  133. 

Gordon,  Gen.  Charles  G.,  121. 

Gosse,  Edmond  (see  Donne),  120. 

Grant,  U.  S.,  133. 

Gray,  Asa,  121. 

Gray,  Thomas,  121. 

Greeks,  104. 

Greeting,  letters  of,  37-38. 


Groups  of  Letters,  15, 34.) 
Guerin,  Maurice  de,  121. 

Hale,  Edward  E.,  133. 
Hamerton,  Philip  G.,  133. 
Harper's  Weekly  (see  Curtis),  119. 
Harvard  College,  30. 
Hawthorne,  Nathaniel,  20, 36,  122. 
Hazlitt  (see  Lamb),  124. 
Herbert,  George,  79. 
Herschel,  Caroline,  122. 
History  and  Reading,  198. 
Hoar,  Elizabeth,  35. 
Holland,  J.  G.,  122. 
Holmes,  O.  W.,23,  37, 122. 
Howadji  Notes  (see  Curtis),  119. 
Howells,  W.  D.,  50, 122. 
Hughs,  Thomas,  4l. 
Hugo,  Victor,  12, 15, 122. 
Hume,  David,  74. 
Hunt,  Leigh  (see  Shelley),  129. 
Huxley,  Thomas,  12, 123. 

Imagination,  5,  6,  23. 
Impersonation,  4,  7. 
India  (see  Brooks),  116. 
Ingelow,  Jean  (see  Larcom),  125. 
Interest,  9  to  11. 

Introduction,  letters  of,  34  to  36. 
Invitational  letters,  41,  46, 181. 
Irving,  Washington,  123. 
Ivanhoe,  212,  215. 

James,  Henry,  42. 

Jay,  John  (see  Lafayette),  123. 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  21,  22,  39, 133. 

Jewett,  Sarah  Orne,  157. 

Johnson,  Samuel,  63, 124,  206. 

Jones,  Jenkin  Lloyd,  92. 

Jones,  Stephen  G.  (Holland),  89, 

122. 

Jordan,  David  Starr,  89. 
Journal,  115  to  134, 143, 150, 158, 216. 
Journalist  (se4  Stillman),  134. 

Keats,  John,  124. 

Keeps,  Playing  for,  168  to  169. 

Kemble,  Fanny,  83. 

Kent,  66. 

Kingsley,  Charles,  26, 124. 

Lafayette,  61. 

Lamartine  (See  Hugo),  123. 

Lamb,  Charles,  13,  44, 124,  206. 

Lamb,  Mary,  124. 

Lang,  Andrew,  124, 188. 

Language,  53. 

Lanier,  Sidney,  7, 12, 75,  76, 125, 208. 

Larcom,  Lucy,  125. 

Last  of  the  Mohicans.The,  208, 209. 

Latin,  18,  25,  54,92. 

Lathrop,  Rose  Hawthorne,  122. 


224 


INDEX 


Laurel,  The,  104. 

Lear,  66. 

Les  Miserables  (see  Hugo),  123. 

Letters,  12, 13, 15, 115  to  134, 139. 

Lexington,  112, 114. 

Lincoln,  A.,  91,  92,  93,  99,  125, 192. 

Literature,  94-98. 

London,  44-46  (see  Von  Moltke) 

126  (see  Sterling),  130.— 
Longfellow,  H.  W.,  43, 125. 
Lowell,  J.  R.,  13, 19,  36,  41,  49,  61, 

74,  79,  100,  107,  125,  206    (see 

Gray),  121. 

Mabie,  H.  W.,  97. 

Macaulay,  T.  B.,  126. 

McCulloch,  O.  C.,  41,  49. 

Madison,  Dolly,  126. 

March  (see  Guerin),  121. 

Marshall,  John,  126. 

Martineau,  Harriet,  126. 

Masson,  David,  41. 

Materials,  9-10. 

Maud,  5,  95. 

Maxims,  167. 

Mill,  J.  S.,  133. 

Minute-men,  112. 

Mitchell,  Donald  G.,  107. 

Mitchell,  Maria,  105. 

Moltke,  von,  126. 

Monologue,  176. 

Montagu,  Lady  Mary,  84,  85, 126. 

More,  Sir  Thomas,  25, 127,  206. 

Moore,  Mrs.  M.  R.,  109. 

Morris,  Wm.  (see  Patmore),  128. 

Motives,  13. 

Motley,  John  L.,  13  (see  Holmes), 

122, 127. 
Moultrie,  200. 

Mountain  (see  Thoreau),  131. 
Mailer,  F.  Max,  127-133. 
Music,  75,  76. 

Narration,  160, 174. 

Nature,  77,  82,  89, 139. 

New  England  (see  Larcom),  125; 

(see  Hale),  133. 
New  York  (see  Ho  wells),  122. 
Newman,  John  H.,  127. 
News,  Indianapolis,  191. 
Norton,  C.  E.,75  (see  Fitzgerald), 

120. 

October's  Bright,  Blue  Weather, 

137. 

Ocean  (see  Gu6rin),  121. 
Ode,    Harvard   Commemoration, 

49. 
Oldstyle,  Jonathan  (see  Irving), 

123. 

Oliphant,  Mrs.  M.,  138. 
Osborne,  Dorothy,  127. 


Oxford  Movement  (see  Newman), 

Paraphrase,  8. 
Parkman,  Francis,  108. 
Paston,  letters,  128. 
Pathetic  FaUacy,  4. 
Patmore,  Coventry,  28,  35,  128. 
Patriotism,  193, 194,  195. 
Paul,  Herbert  (see  Arnold),  116. 
Peacock,  T.  S.,  86,  87. 
Pepys,  Samuel,  128. 
Personal  Element,  3,  4,  8, 12. 
Personification,  4,  5,  6. 
Picture,  Order  for,  164. 
Pinkerton,  T.  J.,  40. 
Pliny,  128. 
Poets  Classified,  4. 
Prseterita  (see  Ruskin),  133. 
Presentation,  letter  of,  47. 
Primrose  (see  Guerin),  78,  121. 
Prue  and  I  (see  Curtis),  119. 
Pythias,  174. 

Quincy,  Josiah,  64. 

Rattlesnake,  The  Ship  (see  Hux- 
ley), 123. 

Reading,  74, 151, 158. 

Recommendation,  letter  of,  64, 66. 

Request,  Letters  of,  66,  68. 

Riley,  James  Whitcomb,  51,  182, 
189. 

Revolutionary  War  (see  Washing- 
ton), 132. 

Robertson,  74,  128. 

Robinson,  Henry  Crabb,  129. 

Roman,  104. 

Rome,  86,  200,  218. 

Rossetti,  D.  G.  (see  Patmore),  128, 
129. 

Ruskin,  John,  27,  67,  129, 133. 

Russia  (see  Motley),  12". 

Saintsbury,  George,  116. 
Saint  Nicholas,  150. 
Saint  Peters,  86. 
Saint  Sophia,  85. 
Samoa  (see  Stevenson),  130. 
Sand,  George  (see  Hugo),  123. 
Science,  89,  90. 
Scenes,  84  to  89. 
Scott,  Sir  Walter,  129. 
Scott,  Sophia  (see  Scott),  129. 
Selborne  (see  White),  132. 
Sevigne,  Madame  de,  129. 
Shakespeare,  66,  97, 104  (see 

Lamb),  124, 125. 
Shaw,  Robert  G.,  30, 102. 
Shelley,  P.  B.,  86,  87, 129. 
Ship  Beagle  (see  Darwin),  119. 


225 


INDEX 


Sidney,  Sir  Philip,  103. 

Sill,  Edward  R.,  71,  206. 

Sipsu,  174. 

Slavery  (see  B.  T.  Washington), 

Sleepy'Hollow,  207. 

Snowdrops,  28. 

Snowflakes,  148. 

Social  Science  (Ruskin),  129. 

Socrates,  180. 

Southey  (see  Lamb),  124. 

Sparks,  Jared  (see  Franklin) ,  120. 

Spring,  28, 151, 152, 153. 

Stanley,  Dorothy,  49. 

Stanton,  Mrs.,  23, 129. 

States,  Southern  (see  Bryant),  116. 

Stella,  Journal  to  (Swift),  130. 

Sterling,  John,  130. 

Stevenson,  Robert  L.,  13,  32,  42, 

Stillman,  William  J.,  134. 

Stowe,  Harriet  B.,  130. 

Stuart,  Judge  A.  (see  Marshall), 

126. 

Style,  Personal  Quality  of,  8. 
Sudan  (see  Gordon),  121. 
Sugar-making  (see  Thoreau),  131. 
Summary,  14. 
Sympathy,  98,  99, 184, 186. 
Swift,  Jonathan,  130. 
Symonds,  J.  A.,  130. 

Talisman,  The,  210. 

Taylor,  Bayard  (see  Lanier),  125. 

TenBoys  on  Road  From  Long  Ago, 

203-205. 
Tennyson,  Alfred,  5,  13,  83,  94,  96, 

130,  216,  217. 


Thanks,  letters  of,  185. 
Thaxter,  Celia,  13, 131. 
Thoreau,  H.  D.,  43, 64, 131  (see  Em- 
erson), 120. 
Ticknor,  George,  131. 
Tolstoy,  Count  Leof ,  186. 
Turkey  (see  Montagu),  127. 

Ulysses,  poem,  217. 

United  States  (see  Madison),  126. 

Van  Dyke,  Henry,  5,  94, 190. 
Vatican,  The,  86. 
Vesuvius  (see  Pliny),  128. 
Vicar  of  Wakefield,  The,  187. 
Vienna,  84. 
Volumnia,  97,  98, 164, 165. 

Walden  pond,  80-81. 
Wallace,  Henry,  131. 
Walpole,  Horace,  131. 
Ward,  Mrs.  Humphry,  116. 
Warner,  C.  D.,  72. 
Washington,  B.  T.,  131, 134. 
Washington,  George,  34,  39  (see 

Lafayette),  123. 
White,  Gilbert,  13, 132. 
White.  Maria  (Lowell),  77,  136. 
Whittier,  J.  G. ,  48  ( see  Child) ,  118. 
William,  the  Conqueror,  103. 
Willis,  N.  P.,  82. 
Willow,  The,  103. 
Wilson,  Woodrow,  193  to  195. 
Winter,  145, 146, 151. 
Woman,  56. 
Woods,  American,  83. 
Wordsworth,  Wm., 44  (see  Lamb), 

124, 132. 
Wrens  (see  Ruskin),  129. 


226 


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